


One Hundred Thousand Clicks Away From Home

by chaerinsthighs, mkhhhx



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hoseok being cheesy, Joo is our favorite character, Kihyun being done, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Model!Hoseok, Past KiHyuk, Past Rape/Non-con, Road Trips, Slow Burn, Smut, Sorry Minhyuk we needed a BadExTM, Tension, Trauma, Traveling trivia, Yes Changkyun is Daniel, because they are in America, but you have to be patient for it, cameos by other idols, later on, not exactly a model, photographer!Kihyun, we have no opinion on Sistar ships, we improvised
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-04 17:25:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13369578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaerinsthighs/pseuds/chaerinsthighs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mkhhhx/pseuds/mkhhhx
Summary: Hoseok smiles and Kihyun dreams of all theirfirststogether.





	1. Prologue/New York

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!  
> So here we have some important notes about this fic, which is our beloved child and we have been planning for months but only now got down to actually writing it. 
> 
> First of all, marilenastam is the one who writes, but Chyeah does all the dirty work, aka has written at least half of the dialogues (or more), has provided most of the plot and is the main beta. We will be both answering comments and will be glad to hear your feedback!
> 
> Part of the kudos will also be distributed to our second beta @Tartar_dork as well <3  
> And special thanks to everyone else who has and will be helping along the way~
> 
> The chapters number may change (to one more or one less), depending on the content distribution.  
> We'll do our best to be updating regularly!

“MonStar photography, Yoo Kihyun speaking.”

“Good evening, Mr. Yoo ehm…after visiting your site I called to ask if you will need any models in the future…”

Kihyun opens a new document, fingers ready to type.

“Name?”

“Hoseok, Shin, with an S-H”

“Well Mr. Shin with an S-H, unfortunately I am not currently hiring, but there’s gonna be a relevant announcement on the studio’s website soon. You will be able to submit your CV there.”

“Thank you Mr. Yoo, I will be checking it out.”  
Kihyun, just about to hang up remembers all the pop-up windows and the 404 errors that appear on the site when someone tries to access it.

“Mr. Shin, there seems to be a small problem with our site currently, would you mind calling next week or leaving me your number so I could call you back?”

“Would you note it down?”

Hoseok says every number slowly and clearly, Kihyun writing it down under his name, promising to get in contact with him soon again.

 

Hoseok is in the middle of his workout when his cellphone rings. He hastily throws a towel around his neck and picks it up.

“Hello?”

“Yes, Mr. Shin, I’m Yoo Kihyun from MonStar Photography, you called last week?”

“Oh, yes I did.”

“There's still a problem with our website so you can't be informed from there for a while, I apologize for the inconvenience. Pardon me, but you said you're a model?”

“I worked for a model agency for four years.”

“And your age is?”

“Twenty six.”

“Would you be available for an appointment within the next few days?”

“Yes, tomorrow is alright if you are free. Your address is the one on the site right?”

“Noon would be ideal. And you might want to write the address down, due to minor inconveniences with the site. It’s Broome Street 34.”

“Alright, see you then, Mr. Yoo with the double oos.”

“Have a nice day Mr. Shin.”

 

Hoseok might be the tiniest bit anxious when he finds himself standing right before the door of MonStar Photography Studio, suddenly feeling underdressed, in only a plain black shirt and worn out jeans. He pushes the door open and steps inside, a small man waving at him behind a desk.

“Gimme a minute.” The man, who must be Yoo Kihyun, mouths and continues talking on the phone, giving directions to someone.

“Yes, third turn on the right” he stops for a second and takes a good look at Hoseok, “Mr. Shin?”  
Hoseok extends his hand, for Kihyun to hold briefly, before a voice from the phone demands his attention once again.

“I’m sorry, do you mind waiting inside? I’ll be back in a minute.”

Hoseok nods, walking in the direction Kihyun points at, a small waiting area for the customers across the desk.  
He watches Kihyun step out of the studio, still talking.

“…I’m outside, you should be able to see me now.”

Moments later, a boy enters and Kihyun makes him sit in front of the computer on the desk, tells him that he has an appointment and to call him if he needs anything.

Kihyun waves at Hoseok to get up and follow him into another room, an office of sorts, with a desk and shelves filled with files behind it, some professional printers tucked in a corner. He takes a seat behind the desk and closes the the laptop in front of him.

“Sorry for not introducing myself properly earlier and making you wait Mr. Shin, I’m Yoo Kihyun, photographer and owner of MonStar Photography. Please take a seat.”

Hoseok makes himself comfortable, the place emitting coziness, with walls painted in soft colors and framed photos of scenery on them.

“Shin Hoseok, a pleasure to meet you.”

“So, you are looking for a modelling job, right? Do you mind telling me a bit about yourself?”

“Yes. More of an advertisement job actually, I'm getting quite old for this you know. I am twenty six as I have mentioned and I've been living here, in New York for the past nine years, I worked with a modelling agency, some freelance photographers, and I've done various other jobs until now. It’s all in here.”

Hoseok places a heavy paper folder on the space between them, with various papers inside.

Kihyun opens the folder and takes a look at its contents. Recommendation letters and some fashion articles, other official papers from workplaces of all kinds.

“In full honesty I don’t have any advertisement jobs to offer you, since my studio doesn’t normally get those, but I’m preparing a project for a photography exhibit, and I was thinking of hiring a model when you called. So would you be interested in a long-term employment? If we end up agreeing to work together of course.”

Hoseok unconsciously rubs his chin, thinking about it. He’s been unemployed for long, and long-term is never bad, when dealing with job opportunities.

“What is the exhibit about?”  
Kihyun takes his sweet time to answer, trying to find the right words.

“First experiences. I'm not sure you can help me because you probably have a lot of experience on certain things. It would also require occasional traveling and we'd spend a lot of time together. In some cases maybe more than either of us would like. And I'll be taking pictures even at times when you wouldn't want me to. I realise that it's not an easy thing to agree to. At first I didn't want to hire a professional model for this, but it's hard to find someone to agree to all of that out of nowhere.”

“What about the salary?”

“When traveling your tickets, accommodation and meals will be covered. The other expenses will be yours. I don't know how long the project will last, so the payment will be weekly.” He takes a sticky paper and writes a number on. It seems good, better than most of Hoseok’s latest jobs.

“The salary is debatable, but I can't offer you much more than that unfortunately, I'd be out of budget myself. If the exhibition goes well you'll get a bonus.”

“Why are you organising the exhibition? What’s the goal you want to achieve with it?”

“Mr. Shin, it will be a gallery of my work.” Kihyun raises an eyebrow and looks at him and Hoseok knows he touched a sensitive matter. But he is persistent.

“Why did you choose the First Experiences topic?”  
Kihyun leans back on his chair.

“That’s a pretty personal question.” He offers dryly, making sure Hoseok knows that there’s nothing more to discuss on the matter.

“I see…when would you want an answer from me?”

“Before that, I need to ask you a few questions.”

“Yes.”

Kihyun retrieves a paper from a pile next to his laptop and looks at what’s written on it before he starts talking again.

“First of all, since obviously the theme is First Experiences, I need to know if you have any special experiences. Your reactions should be genuine, it's not an actor I need but an expressive face. Also a list of places you have visited would be helpful, but that's for later.”

“Special experiences... what kind of? I grew up in Korea and then I came here, I have not travelled much.”

“Mostly cultural.”

“Most of my life I've lived... poorly. On the rare occasions I attended big events or got fat salaries I went through some sort of cultural shock as well. And when coming here from Korea, of course”

”That's good. Also, if you don't mind me asking, you had a steady job at an agency, right? What was the reason you left?”

“I was replaced by younger models. Naturally, I didn't sell, as much.”

“I understand. Well, you seem to fulfil my main requirements. And you’ll need to agree with my terms, the ones we discussed about and some additional that will be on the final contract, like an agreement of discretion and some similar stuff. Of course if you have any terms of your own I'd like to discuss them with you and possibly add them to the contract. Now, I'd like to have an answer within the next week if that's possible, because if you accept to work with me we'll have to decide on the final terms and make a contract.”

“Will I contact you on the same phone number?”

“Yes and I'm willing to answer more questions about the project, to a certain extent. So if you have any additional questions feel free to call me.”

“I will call you soon, whether the answer is positive or not.”

Hoseok stands up, for one more brief handshake.

“It was a pleasure meeting you Mr. Shin, and I’ll be expecting your answer soon.”  
Hoseok goodbyes Kihyun and the other boy working at the front desk. He already knows that he wants to accept the job.

Kihyun sits next to Daniel again, asking if there is hope to resurrect and make the site functional again. Daniel smiles widely, saying that he fixed it already.

 

It takes Hoseok three more days to make up his mind and put some finality into his decision to work on Yoo Kihyun’s strange project. He calls and they agree to meet soon, on a afternoon when the studio is normally closed, to discuss the terms and conditions of the contract with a notary. Kihyun sends him a draft of it by e-mail and Hoseok reads every little detail. Seems like he’ll need to give up a bit of his privacy, but nothing he won’t be able to handle. An interesting job opportunity after so long and he can feel his heart skipping a beat from excitement. He visits the studio again on the date and time they agreed on, Kihyun inside alone, the sign at the glass door reading “Closed” with bright red letters.

They make small talk, Kihyun offers coffee which Hoseok declines and goes for a glass of water instead. Coffees manage to stress him out in this kind of situations. They go through the contracts again while waiting, Hoseok taking his glasses out of his shirt pocket to wear them and Kihyun smiles from across the table.

“Do you usually wear glasses?”

“Only when I have to read or look at something from up close.”

“They look good on you. I usually wear contacts at work, so you’ll rarely see me in glasses.”

“I used to wear contacts too, but glasses are so much easier.”

“Yeah they are, but sometimes they get in the way when I’m working with my camera. By the way, you said you’re from Korea right? Where from?”

“Outskirts of Anyang, just…rice fields and cows.”

“I’m actually from Seoul, but I left when I was 18.”

“Right…”

The notary comes soon, they discuss the contract and the parts that need attention or fixing before making it official. Hoseok asks if the bathroom can be excluded from the

“Kihyun taking photos whenever he wants to” rule. The compromise that it will be, except cases like spring baths, saunas and other facilities like this. Nevertheless, Hoseok never had a problem showing off his body.

“If I ask for privacy, is it guaranteed that I’ll have it for a few hours?”

“Of course. Unless we're in the middle of a scheduled photo shoot that requires rescheduling and more expenses, that might be subtracted from your salary.”

“That's fair.”

“I realise that some of the terms are ridiculous, but my goal is not to violate your privacy. But I'll sometimes capture moments of it, and of course all of that will be eventually displayed.

And I know that I'm asking a lot from you, but I'm also investing a lot in this. You are an adult and a professional, so I'll have expectations for appropriate behaviour from your part. I can't afford to mess this project up. I work alone, I do everything myself and I'm paying for literally everything from my own savings. And of course, you're not allowed to talk about the subject of our photoshoots to anyone. That immediately terminates the contract.”

“How long is the project expected to run for?”

“I'll have to run my studio here at the same time, so probably a few months to a year? If things go extremely well maybe a bit less, but I doubt it.”

“Of course if you get another job in the meantime we can work around that as long as you don't violate the terms of our contract. Early termination from your part means that you owe me a part of the money I spent for your employment.”

Hoseok looks down at his papers one last time before signing under his name.

“Understandable.”

  


The notary is responsible to take care of the rest, gives them his card and the date when the final and official form of the contact will be sent back to them. He gathers all the papers and gets up, leaving the two men alone. Hoseok smiles warmly at Kihyun who, he mentally notes is his new employer.

Kihyun scribbles something on a paper and passes it to him.

“That’s my personal number, you can use it if you can’t find me here, since we’ll be working together a lot for the next few months.”  
Hoseok takes the bright green piece of paper and tucks it into his pocket.

“When and how do we start?”

“Well” Kihyun smirks, “there’s an Irish festival in Boston next weekend. I thought we could start by going there. We can leave by Friday afternoon and be back on Sunday night.”

“By car?”

“Yes, I will rent one before meeting you. I have a licence but unfortunately I don't own a car.”

“I have a license too, if you feel comfortable sharing the driving.”

They just stay there, looking at each other, until Hoseok decides to break the pregnant silence, an idea popping into his mind, pointing at the camera, secure around Kihyun’s neck.

“Is the first _first_ gonna be our first day together then?”

“I guess so.” Kihyun, almost mechanically lifts the camera to his eyes, Hoseok smiling for him.

**~99.999 clicks away~**


	2. Boston

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> We're sorry this update took a while, life got in the way ToT  
> Once again we'd like to thank our wonderful beta @Tartar_dork because she's the best <3  
> Enjoy (^ω^)/

Hoseok is just going home from walking around the town running errands when the narrow road where MonStar Photography Studio is situated catches his eye. He decides that paying a visit won’t hurt and heads there. He pushes the glass door open and watches for a bit as Kihyun takes pictures of a family. A baby, no more than one year old, smiles above its mother’s shoulder and Hoseok makes funny faces until it bursts out laughing. Kihyun seems to notice him at the moment, waving awkwardly and finishing up with the family.

“So cute” Hoseok mutters, mostly to himself, Kihyun placing his camera back in its case and walking towards him.

“It was. What brings you here today?”

“Was just passing by.”

“Coffee, juice?”

“Water please, can I stay? Are you busy?”

“The usual, mostly 5 minute jobs.”

Kihyun disappears in some room further than his office and comes back with a glass of water, placing it in front of Hoseok, who has already sat on a chair. Naturally, Kihyun sits as well, sipping coffee from a mug left on the desk.

“Do you like that?”

“Like what?”

“Five minute jobs.”

“I like it, but I want more. It’s not something that will happen by itself though, I have to work for it.”

“I think you can learn a lot in just five minutes, when interacting with people.”

“Like, what?”

“About their lives, from the way they dress and talk to you.”

“Not everyone likes that. I need to respect my clients and a lot of them just want a few photos and will never come again. They have busy lives and they're not interested in small talk with a photographer. I do notice things, though.”

“I like children the most. They are interesting.” Kihyun gives him a pained look. “Do they ask to play with your camera?”

“Some of them just try to take it.”

“How many cameras do you have?”

“Two so far, why?”

“Just curious, I always liked cameras.”

“Were you interested in photography?”

“Not so much, I just have a digital one and my phone. I never had the money to buy a new one anyway.”  
Kihyun scrapes his nape, eyes downcast and his voice comes out shy.

“I know what you mean.”

Hoseok nods in a silent agreement and watches Kihyun, stress-organizing his desk, piling all the scattered papers in a corner and pressing some keys on his laptop. He takes a deep breath, more tired than anything else and looks up to Hoseok again.

  
“Are you interested in Irish music?”

“I'm interested in a lot of things, cultural or not. Otherwise I wouldn't be a photographer. Are you?”

“I am interested in all kinds of music actually.”

“You sound like you wanted to become a musician.”

“Producer.”

“Oh…and it didn’t go well for you?”

“It just…it didn’t work out.”

“I’m sorry about that.” Kihyun’s lips turn downwards, genuinely.

“But I have a nice job now, so it’s okay.”

“How come you started modeling?”

Hoseok looks at the cars outside, the people and the shops at the other end of the road. He doesn’t want to let Kihyun know he touched a sensitive subject.

“That’s a story for another time.” He tries to be nonchalant, pleasant even, but judging from Kihyun’s next words he’s not really good at pretending.

“Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to pry. Let's leave it at that.”

Next, they talk about their first trip together. Kihyun suggests they leave when he closes up the studio, on Friday afternoon and estimates that they’ll be back by Sunday late evening. They decide to meet in front of the studio, even though Kihyun volunteers to pick Hoseok up from his home. Before heading back home, Hoseok asks Kihyun how he takes his coffee.

“One sugar, no milk.” The younger man says, seeing him off at the door.

 

 

Friday comes soon and Hoseok almost knocks the glass door down, trying to enter with his backpack and both hands occupied with coffees in paper cups. It’s a quarter to seven and Kihyun is taking ID photos of a lanky boy in a school uniform, his last customer for the day.

Hoseok places the coffees on the table and takes his backpack off, waiting for Kihyun to finish and then check and lock up all the rooms while talking.

“Hello.” Kihyun starts, taking a sip of his coffee, smiling behind the cup.

“Hello! I came to have my photos taken!”

“It’s nice to see that you are fully energetic.”

“We are going on a trip!” Hoseok gulps down his own coffee so fast that it burns his throat but still, his excitement doesn’t die down.

“Do you need anything before we leave? Water, toilet?”

“Nah, I’m okay”

The last thing Kihyun turns off is the main computer and then, taking his duffel bag he gets out of the studio, with Hoseok following him. They’re walking to the car rental place when Kihyun snaps his first photo of the day, noting how happy Hoseok looks, like a child in his first school trip.

They have their driving licenses ready and Kihyun has already picked the car they are gonna rent, a relatively small blue one. They fill the required forms and get the keys.

“Does renting a car count as a first too? Cause I’ve never done it before.” Kihyun, content with Hoseok’s expressive face takes a photo of him, holding the map upside down at the passenger’s seat.

“Well, it does.”

They agree that Kihyun is gonna be the first to drive and they’ll switch somewhere around half of the distance. Hoseok proudly declares that he is gonna be reading the map, but it turns out that he’s holding it wrong and can’t find where they are, so, Kihyun takes out his phone and puts his GPS to use. His gut tells him that Hoseok is looking at Florida.  

“Uhm... Mr. Sh- do you mind if I call you Hoseok-hyung? Mr. Shin will be weird since we'll be spending so much time together.”

“Hoseok-hyung is fine, feel free to” he laughs, as if to get rid of the tension in the air “that’s America after all.”

“Well, we're still Koreans and I have to be considerate of some things.”

Hoseok asks Kihyun if he wants to or thinks about going back to Korea. The man says that his parents died years ago in an accident and he doesn’t have any family or friends left, so even if he wants to visit at some point in the future, he has no immediate plans to do it. Hoseok on the other hand, does have family, parents, brother and some other relatives, but he hasn’t been back since he set foot in America. When Kihyun asks if he misses them, he almost says that he does, because that’s the social norm, but he decides to be honest, he doesn’t really think about them.

Hoseok turns the radio on, hums the songs and taps his fingers on the window.

“It’s been a while since I last went out of town; I forgot how much I like road trips. I don’t really feel like I’m working right now.”

“This is a good job for you, then. Excluding the fact that you'll have less privacy than usual.”

“I hope my nudes don’t get leaked, they would sell lots, but still.”

“That’s something I would only do with your permission.” Kihyun frowns, gripping the wheel.

“Keep them to yourself” he winks and then madly blushes, because it’s his new employer and he is not supposed to be like this, “sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

“Hoseok-hyung. I'll just say this, just in case. But I don't do relationships. I don't even do friendships. You might have meant it as a joke, but I'm not interested in anything more anyway.” Kihyun’s face is serious, but so is Hoseok’s when he finally responds to him.

“What a coincidence.”

Kihyun raises an eyebrow and opens his mouth, almost ready to ask something or make a remark, but closes it again, turns the radio volume up and concentrates on the road and the signs. It’s getting dark and windy and Kihyun doesn’t like the silence, feeling like they had some sort of fight and even if he’s not supposed to care so much, he does.

“Let me know if you're hungry, there are several places we can stop. It'll be pretty late by the time we arrive at the hotel.”

“Do you have a schedule in mind, of what to do during the weekend?”

“There are several things to do at the festival; we'll mostly walk around there. You'll at least try some traditional food, listen to music and watch some dances. There are some  interactive activities as well. But we don't need a strict schedule.”

“That sounds nice. I’ll need at least half to one hour for my work-out every morning before we go if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.”

“You can join if you want, do you work out?” Kihyun is tiny compared to Hoseok, so it’s probably a no.

“Sometimes, it’s stress relieving, but I don’t always have the time.”

Kihyun takes a good look at Hoseok. He had noticed he has a nice body, but with every new shy glance he realizes more and more how well defined his muscles are, under his shirt. Then Hoseok is talking again, with a little smile.

“Hey, Kihyun, do you have a favorite photograph?”  
Kihyun freezes for a moment, his mind working to find a sufficient answer, or a made up one, but it doesn’t.

“…no, not anymore.”  
Hoseok studies his profile, the way his eyebrows furrow and his lips are slightly turned downwards.

“You can pick a new one then.”

“Maybe.”

Hoseok spends the rest of Kihyun’s driving time searching for things to see during the festival. He doesn’t drink alcohol but there are many events held in Irish pubs and they will need to visit some of them, probably the next night. Hoseok wants to try dancing traditional dances too, Kihyun says he was gonna ask him to do it anyway, but personally he’ll stick to taking photos.

Eventually, Hoseok falls asleep, with a little pout drawn on his face. Kihyun makes a stop to buy some water and snacks, deciding not to wake him up. When Hoseok wakes up though, alone in the car in a parking lot he panics, thinking that he has been scammed and for some reason Kihyun has left him there. He only calms down when Kihyun walks back into the car and gives him a sandwich to munch on.

They stay in the parking lot for half an hour to finish eating and then they swap positions, Hoseok stretching and making sure he has fully woken up before he takes the driver’s seat.

“Did I drool?” Hoseok asks concerned and Kihyun tries not to laugh.

“No you didn’t. Do you usually drool?”

“…sometimes.”

Kihyun doesn’t comment on it, but shows a toothy, beautiful smile.

“This is your first time in Boston, right?”  
Hoseok nods, the number of signs increasing the closer they get to the town.

“I’ve only been to Florida, L.A., and Washington. Apart from New York, of course.”

“Business trips? Or personal?”

“Business.”

Soon, they see the first houses and an “Entering Boston” sign, Kihyun taking his belt off and climbing to the backseat to take better photos. Hoseok wants to remind him that that’s not actually appropriate behavior in a car, but Kihyun is making happy sounds about his photos so Hoseok does not interfere.

Kihyun gives him the last directions to the hotel and they park in front of it, an old but well maintained building, relatively small, but welcoming. Hoseok turns the machine off and takes his stuff and Kihyun’s duffel bag regardless of his protests. He already has a lot of photography equipment to carry.

He follows Kihyun, until the man stops in his tracks and looks at him.

“Hoseok, don’t walk behind me, the whole point is me being able to see you and take photos of you.”

Hoseok nods, getting one step ahead, but still checking where Kihyun is, every few seconds until they step in front of the reception desk to give their names.

They get the key number 17 and decide to take the stairs, instead of the crowded elevator. Seems like there are many visitors for the festival. Hoseok jumps two stairs at a time and when he reaches their room door, Kihyun is catching up panting, trying to keep up with him.

Hoseok unlocks and the room is nice enough, for a budget choice. The walls are a light grey colour and there is a big window with the view of the backyard of the hotel. Hoseok goes to the bathroom and when he comes back into the main room Kihyun is already connecting his camera on his laptop, to save photos.

“Which bed do you want?” Hoseok asks.

“Whichever, I don’t mind.”

So he takes the one closer to the window and puts some of his clothes in the closet, watching Kihyun do the same, but in a much tidier manner.

He changes to lighter clothing and lies on the bed, checking his social media accounts, while Kihyun takes a quick shower and comes out of the bathroom in a simple white shirt and shorts, looking smaller than he already is. He yawns and falls on his own bed, setting his camera and laptop aside.

“I’ll sleep in a bit, I’m tired and we have a lot of things to do tomorrow, so don’t stay up too late, okay?”

“Do you want me to grab some food from downstairs or bring take out?”

“I'm not really hungry, but I'll pay for your meal as promised.”

“You shouldn't sleep on an empty stomach Kihyun.”

“I eat more in the morning, don't worry about it”

Hoseok gets up to find something in his backpack and takes out a bag of chocolate biscuits, offering one to Kihyun.

“Do you always worry so much about people?” Kihyun laughs and Hoseok feels a bit bad, looking down and tapping his feet at the side of the bed.

“Sorry, I know you can take care of yourself.” Kihyun lifts his hand, in a dismissive option.

“You didn’t offend me, if that’s what you were thinking….can I have one?”

Hoseok places the bag on the nightstand between them and they eat biscuits in silence, with the city loud beneath them. It’s Friday night and with the festival starting everyone is going out to drink and have a good time.

At some point there are no biscuits left, and Kihyun gets up to throw the bag in the trash and turns the lights off on his way back. Hoseok usually sleeps with a night light on, but he will make do with the light coming from outside this time.

“Hey Hoseok-hyung” he turns to Kihyun’s bed, even if he can’t really see him “I'm sorry if I was rude earlier. I told you, I don't do friendships, so my social skills are completely unpolished, now at least. But I don't want to make you uncomfortable or be rude to you.”

“It’s okay, let’s be comfortable with each other.”

Kihyun asks again if he wants to eat, but he’s too lazy and tired to do anything other than sleep, so he says they are gonna have a good breakfast the next day and plays a couple of games on his phone, before falling asleep.

  
Kihyun is the first one to wake up the next morning, taking his time in the bathroom and then watching Hoseok slowly wake up, a little disoriented, stretching and rubbing his face.

“Good morning”

“Morning…” Hoseok mutters and turns to the other side, successfully claiming a couple more seconds of sleep. Kihyun reminds him that they better get ready, because they have lots of places to visit and they have to have a good breakfast before that.

“Gimme half an hour?”

“Sure.”

Kihyun had forgotten that Hoseok needed time for his workout every morning, but he is reminded when Hoseok falls on the floor next to the bed and starts counting push ups. Kihyun gives him one whole hour, which he uses to work on his photos and Hoseok goes out for a short run, in a sleeveless shirt and booty shorts. Kihyun doesn’t forget to snap a photo.

When Hoseok gets back, he locks himself in the bathroom and Kihyun notices the sound of the running water, but when the older man steps out of the bathroom, Kihyun is awestruck by the glow-up. Hoseok is wearing a blue button up and white pants, matching his fedora hat, shaved and with his slightly dump hair groomed.

Kihyun finishes editing his last photos, takes a call from a client, arranging a job in the next few weeks and gets dressed himself, in jeans and a light brown shirt. When he’s putting on his socks and sneakers, his eye catches Hoseok, on his bed, watching the morning cartoons and laughing.

“By the way, you don’t have to be that formal, casual clothing is fine too.”

“….this is casual…” Hoseok looks at him and his over-worn sneakers and Kihyun raises an eyebrow.

“That looks like pretty expensive clothing you know.”

Hoseok presses his finger across the shirt’s logo. “Oh, I know.”

They make sure to have everything they’ll need for the day on them and Hoseok suggests visiting a café he found on the internet, which serves traditional Irish breakfast, so they lock the room and walk the short distance there, Kihyun reading the map from Hoseok’s phone.

They are walking, with Kihyun a few steps behind, taking photos of buildings, cars, the sky, when Hoseok suddenly turns around and flashes a wide smile straight into the camera, Kihyun snapping a photo and smiling satisfied.

“That’s a damn good photo” he says, more to himself.

The café is a nice one, with most of it being an open garden, with fake grass and gnomes between the wooden small tables for two. There is an Irish flag on a wall and the blackboard at the entrance is advertising the breakfast.

Kihyun keeps taking photos when Hoseok asks a waiter where they can sit and selects one of the tables, taking a menu and looking at it. It takes less than a minute to decide on ordering two full breakfasts and give the menus back to the waiter. Kihyun soon joins him on the table.

“Do you like beans?” Hoseok asks, looking at the plates on other tables.

“It's mainly seafood I don't like, I can eat almost everything else. Do you?”

“I can eat everything, I don’t mind. Just trying to keep it healthy.” And they both pretend they don’t notice that most of their breakfast is fried in butter, but it’s okay because they’re gonna burn all the calories soon.

Kihyun thinks he has picked the right person for the job, when the huge plates arrive and his expression changes with every bite. He finds himself smiling behind the camera’s lens.

“Hey Mr. Photographer, eat up.”  
Kihyun grins and takes a spoonful of beans, which are not really so bad.

“Look at the gnomes, aren’t they cute?”

“They are, it’s beautiful here.”

“I always wanted a garden to put some.” Kihyun has his mouth full and smiles to the amusing idea of Hoseok in the middle of a gnome-populated garden.

“How come?”

“They are cute, little garden guardians.” Kihyun silently agrees. “I want to get some house plants too, but I always forget.”

“They are nice, but need tending.” He knows, since he has tried keeping potted plants in the studio, but everything was watered more or less than needed and eventually died.

“Cacti maybe and actually I want a bunny too, but I won’t have the time to take proper care of it.”

“I want a dog, but I definitely won't be able to take care of it. I had a hamster when I was a kid, though. It was cute.” Hoseok makes a…sound at the dog mention.

“How old did you say you were again?”

“Tiety thix” Hoseok tries talking and swallowing simultaneously.

“Had I not seen your ID I would not believe it. How come you’re older than me, life is ridiculous. ” Kihyun deadpans, but he’s in a great mood.

Hoseok makes a show of putting on his glasses, low at the bridge of his nose and goes completely serious, cutting his food in small pieces with a snobbish look, until Kihyun bursts out laughing.

“Don’t laugh while eating young man!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Kihyun contains his laughter, his attention returning to the plate in front of him.

Hoseok breaks into a grin and pushes some bacon into Kihyun’s plate, complaining that he’s getting full and he can’t have more fats for the whole week. Kihyun could use some of the extra energy, because it turns out that Hoseok is a handful to deal with.

They spend the whole morning walking around in the square where the main activities of the festival are taking place, checking the stands with the handmade products. There are traditional foods, clothing, books and other handmade items, the whole place decorated in orange and green.

After they have seen every stand, Hoseok takes out his old and overused wallet and takes a look inside, asking if they will visit the place the next day as well and decides to leave souvenir purchasing for later, after they have seen everything.

In the middle of the square, there is a tall statue, a soldier on his horse, kids playing around and on it. Hoseok tries to climb on it, earning some strange looks and helping Kihyun take some fun photos. He stays on the horse for some time before the little kids start complaining that he’s taking up all the space. His descend isn’t as smooth, painfully landing on his butt.

“Are you okay? Everything in place?” Kihyun helps him get up again.

“I have terrible acrophobia, not sure why I did this.”

“Oh my god…”

“I’m okay, don’t worry. I get a little stupid sometimes.”

“You got overexcited.” And it’s a bit difficult for Kihyun not to think that he is adorable, with the small pout.

They are walking some more under the warm sun, Hoseok looking lost in his thoughts, Kihyun not sure if he should ask if something’s wrong.

“Do you think I look like a model, Kihyun?” He stops and asks.

“Well, you do look like a Greek god, so that should cover one part of the question. Attitude-wise, I wouldn't know. I barely worked with professional models while I was studying photography. And this project is completely different, because it's not that kind of professionalism that I need from you. ....Hyung, do you like being a model?”

“A model that acts as a live clothing hanger? No, I don’t.”

“Is that your definition of a model?”

“I think that is the universal definition of a model, a fashion show model, advertisement model.”

“I am asking what you think of your job, not others.”

“It’s a job and not a pleasant one. You make good money until they throw you away.”

“Well, you look like more than just a live hanger, if that answers your question.”

“It's good enough. I have not been offered any modelling jobs for the past two years you know.”

“You keep looking for those, though. You were the one that called my office, remember?”

“To be honest I was more drawn to your name. I would like for once an employer who didn't see me as the immigrant stealing jobs.”

“That…makes sense. Ever thought of doing something permanent?”

“No reason to think about it now, I’ll find something else when our project is over.”

“If I become better known and land more jobs after this I might call you every once in a while. It'll be fun to work with a model that's not a live clothing hanger. Don't count on that though, nothing in my work is stable.”

“I hope you become very successful then.” Hoseok smiles, starts walking again, checking his phone for directions and places.

Kihyun looks into his camera screen, surprised with how good Hoseok’s serious face looks in the photos. Hoseok asks him about the editing progress and he explains as simply as he can. He doesn’t always edit the photos he takes, enjoys how natural light, shadows and colours give life to them. When he does editing though, it’s either because something is very off or his clients have asked him to, an example being adding special effects and backgrounds to pictures of cosplayers he takes at conventions. Generally, he appreciates natural beauty and it’s a concept he wants to convey through his work.

Hoseok isn’t attentive for too long, because something catches his eye, or rather, his nose, a small stall serving food. He pokes Kihyun until he stops talking.

“Let’s go try the shepherd’s pie!”

Kihyun buys two small containers with pie for them and they sit on a bench, with plastic forks and knives. Hoseok is used to the clicking of the camera by now, not even noticing it going off again and again as he’s disassembling his food to try every ingredient.

“Is it tasty?” Hoseok, instead of answering, because he has his mouth full, takes a piece of meat with his fork and lifts it in front of Kihyun’s mouth, who takes a small bite. They both agree that it has too much cheese.

With his belly full, Hoseok crosses his legs and dozes off, throwing his head back and looking at the sky and when Kihyun gets up to take more photos Hoseok sprawls on the whole bench, on the verge of falling asleep.

They decide to go back to the hotel and rest for a couple of hours, before they have to attend the dancing lessons later that evening. Kihyun overlooks Hoseok flirting with the receptionist and then rolls his eyes watching him unlock the room and jump on his creaking bed.

Hoseok takes a quick shower and gets out in only a pair of boxers, standing in front of the closet and trying to decide what to wear.

“Whoa…that really is A LOT of muscle.”

Hoseok turns around, covering a bit of his chest with his hands, with a confused expression.

“Did you intend to say that out loud?”

“Sorry…” Kihyun says, in a small voice “Not in a weird way…I was just surprised…”

“Alright” Hoseok rubs the back of his neck, exposing more of his muscular back and picks up a shirt.

Kihyun works some more on his laptop with Hoseok snoring beside him, until he falls asleep in front of the screen. Hoseok wakes up later and looks at him, sleeping with the device still open in front of him on the bed. Without making any noise, he takes Kihyun’s camera from the bed and takes a photo of him like this, sleeping peacefully, then puts it back in place and calls Kihyun’s name softly.

Kihyun stirs awake, looking lost.

“We need to get ready, Kihyun” Hoseok says, petting his hair once. Kihyun is surprised at the contact, but concentrates on washing his face and getting dressed again, with blue trousers and a white button up, matching Hoseok.

They leave the keys to the reception and go outside, the sun setting and more people on the streets. Kihyun finds the place where the dancing lessons and performances are held and guides them, until they can hear faint music, to which Hoseok moves, even while walking.

“You like dancing huh?”

“Don’t you?”

“Sometimes.”

“Want to dance with me later?”

“Ah, I don’t know. I haven’t danced in a while and I’m here to work.”

The main room is full of people in traditional clothing, learning the steps in small groups. Hoseok looks around curiously, until he plops down, to concentrate on the steps, tilting his head like a puppy every time he tries counting them and loses his concentration.

“You okay?”

“I think it's three-two-four or five...five...?”

Kihyun looks at the dancers.

“I think it’s five.”

“I’ll go try it.”

Kihyun gives him a thumbs up, his gaze glued to Hoseok, who practices alone in a corner until a group asks him to go dance with them. He makes sure not to disturb any of the dancers, moving around to take some good shots, laughing with Hoseok, who’s quite bad at repeating the steps, occasionally stomping on other people’s feet, but having fun.

He comes back smiling, cheeks red and hair dishevelled and Kihyun takes one more of his “best of” photos.

“I’ll give you this one when we get back to the hotel” he says, showing it to Hoseok.

“I look nice, but why?”

“Because you look nice.” Hoseok blushes a bit.

“Will you give it a try?” He points to the dance floor.

“I can't leave my camera here”

“Dance with your camera”

“What if I fall and it breaks?” Kihyun audibly gulps.

“It's secured around your neck, isn't it?”

“I... I haven't danced anything in more than two years.”

“So the camera is not the actual problem.”

“It is a problem! I'm not leaving it around! I don't let anyone touch my camera!” It comes out sounding angrier that he is, but then again, he doesn’t want to dance, at all.

“I know Kihyun. Do whatever you want, I'll go back”

Kihyun spends the time Hoseok is dancing, alone. He takes photos, walks around the rest of the building and buys an Irish beer for himself. It has gotten late when Hoseok comes back, holding snacks. Kihyun scolds him for not eating properly and suggests having actual dinner. Hoseok’s stomach growls and he can’t say no.

There is a dining hall next to the dancing rooms, with live singing and they settle for eating there, ordering traditional food and watching performances.

“I don’t think dancing is my thing, I'm not really the type that would laugh if I were to suddenly be found on the floor.” Kihyun says and Hoseok waves politely to some people passing by, “You made friends already!”

“Just having a good time with people, for now.”

“That’s good, too.”

They exchange food from their plates, to try more things and Hoseok asks about Kihyun’s favourite food. It’s chicken, fried, but in all ways really. He admits he enjoys cooking a lot, when he has enough free time. Hoseok, on the other hand, worships instant ramen, plain with boiled water and the artificial flavour packs it comes with. There must be a secret to building these muscles, because ramen doesn’t do the work.

They go back to the hotel eventually, just in time to catch an Irish movie showing on the television, both too tired to watch it until the end. Kihyun makes sure to save all the photos of the day and when he’s done Hoseok has already fallen asleep, so he sets alarms for the next morning and tucks himself in bed as well.

The next day, there are more stands to see, more music to hear and traditional delicacies to taste. Hoseok probably has a bottomless stomach, eating everything he can get his hands on, even after a fulfilling breakfast at the hotel and Kihyun is simply happy to be capturing all of his expressions. Before having to leave, they walk around the central square one last time, to buy souvenirs.

Hoseok is the first to drive, changed in sweats and a black shirt, sunglasses on and focused on the road.

“It was fun” he says, to fill the silence.

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“I hope we can have more trips like this.”

“We will, but I don’t know if you’ll like all of them.”

“Do you have anything specific in mind?”

“Can’t tell you” Kihyun smirks.

“I’m sure I’ll love it!”

“How do you know?”

“We work well together and it’s basically paid vacation.”

Kihyun lays back, lets out a deep breath, because the weekend went so much smoother than he had imagined. He had never worked so close for so long with someone and it was a risk he had taken. When it’s his turn to drive the rest of the way back, he lets Hoseok play music connecting his phone to the speakers and listens to him humming to it.

They leave the car back at the rental place after filling the gas tank, pay for the two days and Hoseok says he’ll walk Kihyun back to the studio.

“Didn’t you have enough of me in two days?”

“My home is in that direction too, don't get too cocky.”

“Okay hyung, it was a joke.”

“Hey Kihyun.”

“Yes?”

“Please drop the honorifics, it’s strange to use them here.”

“Uh…I will try.”

“I never liked honorifics anyway. You know, all this fake politeness.”

“I just use them out of habit”

“But we are almost the same age and you’re my employer, it’s ridiculous.”

“Okay, I’ll stop then. I would invite you in for a coffee, but I have so much work to do.”

“It’s okay, I’ll go home to rest anyway. Goodnight Kihyun.”

“I’ll call you soon, goodnight, Hoseok.” He says, eyes heavy and tired, and unlocks the door, watching Hoseok disappear into the next turn.

 

**~** **99.456 clicks away** **~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Feedback is always appreciated (^ω^)/  
> The next update will probably not take that long, stay tuned <3


	3. Museum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A fun chapter, feat. dinosaur trivia.

It’s Tuesday morning when the studio door opens with a loud noise and Hoseok steps in, greeting in his excited, high-pitched voice. Kihyun looks up from his laptop, greets back with a small smile and locks the device as Hoseok places two paper cups on his desk.

“I didn’t have anything to do, came to hang out” he says, gradually going quiet and waiting for Kihyun to finish a couple of phone calls.

Kihyun remembers something and asks Hoseok to turn his phone’s Bluetooth on, connecting it with his laptop and transferring a photo from his “Boston” folder, the one he promised he would give to Hoseok.

“I look really good here, I’ll probably use it as my new profile pic.” He shows the pic from his phone screen, as if Kihyun has not seen it already.

“Just make sure to not say anything about the project.” Hoseok nods and taps something on his phone before taking a good look of Kihyun.

“Of course. How are you? You have dark circles.”

“I always have dark circles. I'm fine, managing. Did you rest from the trip?”

“Good as new.” Truth is, Hoseok always looks good, it’s one of his charms, or a trait left from his modelling days.

Kihyun asks Hoseok to keep his next Wednesday free, since he has plans for the two of them. This week he will be drowning in work, having to photograph a Cosplaying event on the weekend, plus all the work he has at the studio. Hoseok asks him if he has ever cosplayed himself, but Kihyun never had the time and is not that much of an anime fan anyway, having watched only a few series. Hoseok, on the other hand, reveals that he has cosplayed as both Luffy and Sanji from One Piece and is a huge fan.

Kihyun thinks of all the cosplayers he works with at the conventions, they are really good at what they do. Maybe he can ask Hoseok to cosplay a new character and come with him next time. Hoseok says he is planning to visit the same convention at some point in the weekend, but he also has his friend’s fashion show to attend, so the possibility of bumping into each other is very small.

“Kihyunnie.”

Kihyun’s eyebrows reach mountain Everest from the surprise. Hoseok has never called him by a nickname before. He mutters a “yes?” in response, containing himself from the initial shock.

“Where are we going on Wednesday?” Hoseok is smiling sweetly but Kihyun is not falling for it.

“You’ll see.” Hoseok is wise enough to drink his coffee and not press the matter any further.

Kihyun tries working on his computer, but Hoseok is restless, tapping the desk and looking around. He can’t concentrate like that.

“The photos turned out well. I can't show you yet but I hope you'll like them eventually.” If he manages to have everything ready on time, that is.  
Hoseok, with Kihyun’s attention on him once again, smiles widely and takes something out from his bag. A little marble red-ish dog he bought from the festival. He places it on the desk.

“That’s Roody. Think of him as a mini me.”

“Hi, Roody, you’re cute.” It has detailed curly fur and his tongue is hanging out of his mouth.

“He’s here to keep you company and remind you of me. He’s a cocker spaniel, keep him here if you want.”

“Wait, don’t you want to keep him?” Hoseok stares at him and doesn’t answer.

“Are you always like this?”

“Like what?” Kihyun looks at him, trying to decide how to say it, without hurting his feelings. But since when does he really care? He doesn’t.

“This friendly.”

“To the few people that seem to like me, yes.”

“And I seem to like you? How? We’ve only worked together for a few days.” Okay that may have been a little harsh.

“You don’t?” Hoseok looks down at his feet, setting the little dog down and off of his hands.

“So far I do, on a professional lever at least. We work well together.” It’s the truth after all.

“See!” he says happily and the next moment he seems to change his mind “Am I too clingy? I am too clingy. But keep the dog, since you don't have security cameras at the studio.” Hoseok takes a look around the walls, to make sure that there aren’t any cameras.

Kihyun laughs, because surely Roody can make up for the studio’s lack of security system.

“Why “Roody” though?”

“He’s rude, but in a cute way. I think you are like that too.”

“I am not rude! I have perfect manners. Most of the time.” Hoseok just giggles “You think otherwise?”

“I don’t really. You are very nice, in a cold way.”

“That’s good.” The statement catches Hoseok by surprise.  
“You do it on purpose?”  
“I think I was always like that.” He knows it’s a lie, but also that Hoseok is not able to read him, nobody is.  
“Some people are cold to hide their warm sides, to not feel vulnerable.” Who knew that an actual mind lived underneath all the muscles.  
“I have no warm sides, not for anyone.” His coping mechanisms are working well, so far.

“That's not possible Kihyun, we all have. For someone, or something. Don't you love photography?” Kihyun cannot help smiling at this.

“I do. It’s the only thing I still love.”

“Dogs?” He points at Roody.

“Can we…stop this conversation?”  
For the second time in half an hour Hoseok shuts up and lets Kihyun work on his laptop, lower lip caught between his teeth, but he can’t really concentrate.

“I think it’s time to go” Hoseok says and looks at his watch before stepping out, Kihyun promising to message him about Wednesday.

Kihyun, alone in the studio, thinks. He’s opening up to Hoseok, too much, too easily and they barely know each other. It’s dangerous.

 

He calls on Monday, tells Hoseok to be at the bus station near the studio with casual clothing, at 9am on Wednesday. He only reveals that they are going to a museum.

 

 

Hoseok is early on the bus stop, with two bubble teas and Kihyun makes a mental note to add the money to his weekly payment, he’s the one who should be paying for these. He watches Hoseok from afar, playing with his phone and yawning, stretching his limbs. He’s wearing a blue hoodie, jeans and sneakers and his hair is messy.

He steps closer and gives Hoseok a leaflet, before even saying good morning, getting a slightly surprised look and some incoherent greeting in response.

“That’s where we are going” he says, touching the leaflet.

“American Museum of Natural History?” Hoseok reads and suddenly he fully wakes up “IT HAS DINOSAURS” he passes one tea to Kihyun in order to properly read the information.

“It does” Kihyun sips his tea “I’m supposed to be buying these things for you, not the other way around.” Hoseok is grinning from ear to ear.

“BUT YOU ARE PAYING TO SEE DINOSAURS, LIKE REAL ONES.”

“Yeah, because that's your job right now, not because I want you to have fun. Not that it's a problem if you have fun, the point is you being natural so having fun is good. Thank you, though.”

Hoseok lectures him about how he’s gotta be having fun at work too, since he’ll be doing it for the rest of his life and he looks so happy that Kihyun doesn’t have the heart to stop him, just nods, because after all, he has a point.

Hoseok stops talking, pointing at a picture of a mummy.

“Yes?” Kihyun smirks.

“That’s creepy.” Hoseok looks equal parts terrified and disgusted.

“Kinda, yes.”

“They are super dead.”

“They are.”

“Why are you so calm about this?”

“Are you scared?”

“Of course not!” Hoseok’s cheeks and eyes are turning scarlet and he has the smallest pout on, drinking his tea. A kid.

“Great.” It’s gonna be fun.

Hoseok keeps reading the leaflet when they get on the bus and Kihyun takes it, informing him that the rest is gonna be a surprise. Hoseok leans on his shoulder in a playful way.

“It has a space ship!”

“It does.” Kihyun doesn’t shy away from the touch, but still, it feels strange.

“Did you ever want to be an astronaut?”

“Not really.” Hoseok swings back to his seat, deep in thought.

“Which is your favorite dinosaur?”

“I don’t think I have one.”

“We can find your favorite together today then!”

“We get off at the next stop.” He tries to be serious. But Hoseok is just so amusing. As much as a four year old. With a nice body. Stop, Kihyun, this trail of thoughts is getting strange.

 

“IT’S SO BIG, KI” Hoseok shouts, standing in front of the building, a few visitors sparing him glances.

“Perhaps I should turn this into a movie and start recording you.” Kihyun mumbles to himself and then turns to Hoseok.

“Okay, new rule: You can comment on anything you want as usual, but try to put everything you wanna say in your expressions. You're very expressive as you are but I need you to try to express any unique feelings you might get from each artifact etc. Don't think too much about it though, just make sure to take your time and take everything in properly. We have all day. And we'll come again if you don't get to see everything today.”

“So…” Hoseok starts, Kihyun taking some of the first pictures of the day.

“Yes?”

“I’ll just be myself.”

“I never asked you not to be, that's the point. But I can't imprint the things you say in the photos. I didn't ask you to lie about how you feel over what you see. I just want to be able to capture all of it.” Maybe he’s making it too complicated for Hoseok. “So yeah, just be yourself.”

“Do you like the things I say?”

“They’re cute.” Fuck. Why the hell did you say that, Kihyun?

Hoseok doesn’t miss a beat. “You’re cute.”  
Kihyun frowns. “Me? Cute? How?”

“What do you mean how? Like everything else cute out there.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, come on.” Kihyun pulls Hoseok’s sleeve, getting in line to buy tickets and get inside the museum. He’s not cute, not at all. He’s cold and intimidating.

Hoseok is holding the museum map upside down, trying to make sense of the directions and the rooms. Kihyun doesn’t even try to help him.

“Where do we go first?”

“Wherever you want, just keep track of what’s left, to make sure you see everything.”

Hoseok gives up on map reading and tucks the piece of paper in his pocket, walking in a random direction. It’s gonna be a long day, with lot of back and forth, but Kihyun decides that Hoseok’s expressions are worth it.

The first room is the start of the sciences department, filled with interactive touch boards, all kinds of games and various items in or out of showcases. Hoseok is running around playing and helping little kids do the same, occupied with making a 3D puzzle of an old train engine. Kihyun maintains his professionalism and sticks to taking pictures ignoring how much he wants to play too, or how something soft stirs inside him, seeing Hoseok like that.

Then there is a huge board where Hoseok is trying to put discoveries and inventions like the internet and draining systems in chronological order. He’s pretty good at it and maybe he’s so much more interesting that Kihyun thought at first. He knows so much about…well, pretty much everything.

After finishing the puzzle, Hoseok is talking with one of the museum guides animatedly, Kihyun catching bits and pieces of the conversation. Hoseok comes running back to him and takes his hand.

“The nice sir told me where we’ll find the dinosaurs!”  
Kihyun, startled, has no time to react in any other way than following him, listening to how scientists found out that dinosaurs probably had fur and how Hoseok thinks that that’s really cute.

Hoseok stops dead on his tracks, Kihyun bumping into his back, in front of a huge dinosaur skeleton, still holding Kihyun’s hand and loudly “Ohhhing”.  
Kihyun gulps, eyes tracing Hoseok’s hand ending at their intertwined fingers. He may not be able to avoid the contact, but he must be more careful when he talks to him. He lifts the camera with his other hand and takes a perfect profile picture of Hoseok, being awestruck.

Most of the information is on children-eye-level in bold letters, so Hoseok squats and reads loudly, for Kihyun to hear too while he’s taking photos. He’s not particularly interested in T-Rexes but Hoseok’s concentrated expression is exhibition worthy.

“It says no touching…” Hoseok whines, too close to the skeleton.

“Then you shouldn’t touch it.” Kihyun deadpans.

“But. Imagine being a dog and being in front of this. Do you think that’s why dogs aren’t allowed here?”

“You're not a dog. And I'm not paying the fees if you break the rules in here. And quite possibly, yes.” Hoseok nods in understanding. Thank god.

“Now, we are here for a reason.” Kihyun has a feeling Hoseok is not talking about the project and the photos. He doesn’t know what to think anymore. “We need to find your favorite dinosaur, Kihyun.” Hoseok is very serious about this and when Kihyun asks why, he throws his hands in the air, like having a favorite dinosaur is required to be an adult and the most natural thing ever. Kihyun sighs.

“And what do you suggest we do to find my favorite dinosaur then? Riding them is not an option.”

“We will just look at them of course! Why would I want to ride a pile of bones?”

“Honestly, I never know what to expect from you.”

“There are much better things to ride.” Hoseok winks.

“Such as?” Kihyun lifts his eyebrows and braces himself for the answer.

“CAAAAAMELS” and Hoseok takes off, trying all the interactive dino-exhibits. Kihyun has never babysat, but he might as well add to his CV that he has experience in the field.

“I found you, come here!” Hoseok shouts again, from the other end of the room. Damn, he’s fast.

“I am here.” Kihyun stands behind him, looking at the weird creature in front of them.  
Hoseok points at it, as if to make the point clear. “That’s you.”

Kihyun looks at the feathered dinosaur staring back at him with its beaded, lifeless eyes. The tag says Eosinopteryx, along with some other info about it. It’s short, compared to everything else in the room.

“What?”

“It looks like you, it could be your favorite.”

“…it looks evil.”

“Really? I think it's very unique. It has wings but it can't fly. But still, it's beautiful.”  
Kihyun blankly repeats the last part into his head, doesn’t notice Hoseok, still talking and looking back at him.

“But it’s not sad, so why are you?”

“Huh?” Kihyun looks back at him surprised but Hoseok doesn’t say anything, just puts on his glasses and moves on to the next exhibit.

Kihyun stays behind for some seconds, in front of what he would name a mistake, because why would it have wings if it couldn’t use them. If he cared a bit more, he could read in the information sign that the same dinosaur, after years and years of evolving, could finally spread its wings and fly.

Hoseok is much calmer for the rest of the day, still excited as hell, trying to see everything, getting in the last room, the furthest down a corridor dedicated to the human body and its senses, late in the afternoon. Kihyun is even less talkative, taking pictures and occasionally looking at things that catch his attention. How the eye works, how humans perceive colors. It’s kind of infuriating that shrimps can see four times as many colors than him, it must be nice, or overwhelming maybe.

Hoseok, after seeing everything, happy with himself, gets out through an exit and sits on a bench, in the museum’s garden. Kihyun takes some more photos of him from a distance, sitting cross-legged, looking at the sunset.

“Hey” Hoseok beams at him, “I can’t feel my legs.”

“What?”

“From all the walking.” Hoseok wiggles his toes inside his shoes, to demonstrate.

“We walked more during the festival…put them on the bench, stretched.”

“Nah, I’ll have a nice shower and sleep back home.”

“Are you okay to go home?” He looks almost as tired as Kihyun is daily.

“Of course. Are the photos good?”

“They are.”

“Did you have fun?”

“I took photos, of course I did.” Hoseok stares at him. “Let me rephrase that, I took photos that I wanted to take, so of course I did.

Hoseok hums, saying he had such a good time himself, and they stand there, watching the sun sinking lower on the horizon. Kihyun is not supposed to be taking photos of landscapes for the project, but the sky has turned such a warm color that he can’t hold himself back.

When he turns around he finds Hoseok with his eyes closed, hands tucked into his hoodie’s pocket.

“You shouldn’t fall asleep here.”

“I won’t, don’t worry. I just like it.”

“…we should go back soon.” And Kihyun really hates that he has to make Hoseok get up, because it’s really beautiful there. But he has so much work to do back in the studio.

Hoseok gets up, takes his glasses off again and rubs his eyes tiredly following Kihyun to the bus station. The bus comes soon and they find seats, Kihyun tucked next to the window. Hoseok watches a young couple a few seats away, smiling, Kihyun looks out of the window.

“Can I?” Hoseok is holding his phone, the camera app open.

Kihyun looks at him, voice higher that he would want it to be, not able to hide his surprise.

“Take a photo of me? You can but…why?”

“You…you look really nice.”

“Do you want me to look outside?”

Hoseok shakes his head, taking a photo of Kihyun like that, next to him and shows him the screen afterwards. Kihyun is not smiling, but he’s relaxed, natural.

“I like this one, I’ll send it to you.”

“Thanks. I think we get off soon.”

Hoseok answers something generic and Kihyun, looking out of the window, spots the studio and the bus stop in front of it.

 

 

**~95.329 clicks away~**  
  



	4. Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because dogs make everything better.

A month passes easily, working for the project in town, visiting shops and exploring neighbourhoods Hoseok has never seen before. They work well and he thinks, although it might not be even close to the truth, that Kihyun is warming up to him. The studio becomes his favourite place to hang out and the photographer doesn’t seem to mind, either Hoseok, or the cups of coffee or tea he always has with him.

This time he has something to tell too, early enough for no customers to be around.

“Kihyun”, he starts, “there is an event at the animal shelter this weekend.”  
Kihyun looks up at him, his mouth not quite leaving the coffee cup.

“What kind of event?”

“You can take a dog for a whole day and go to the park to play with it.”

“That’s so sweet” Kihyun smiles, “are you going?”

“I thought…” Hoseok stutters, because maybe this was not the best idea, but he thought Kihyun would get the point. He just stares at Hoseok, waiting. “…I thought we could go together. I’m sorry, I didn’t think much about it, I know you have much work.”

“Is it a first experience for you to play with dogs?”

“I have played with dogs before... I never had a dog or got in touch with a rescued dog though.”

“I thought you meant we could go as part of the project.”

“Yeah, that too.” He meant they can go as friends, “that’s what I meant.”

Kihyun agrees to go, but only for a couple of hours, and Hoseok informs him that he has asked for a dog in advance. A malamute. He hopes Kihyun isn’t afraid of it, but Kihyun seems as excited as he is, saying that it’s a fluffy breed.

The phone rings and Kihyun talks with some Daniel, who Hoseok is sure he has met at the studio before. They arrange to meet later in the afternoon while Hoseok is chanting “doggy-doggy-doggy” happily under his breath. Kihyun has gotten used to his excitement and continues his work.

“How’s life?” Hoseok is great at starting conversation.

“Work’s going well, so life’s good.” Typical Kihyun answer. Hoseok hums, his stomach growling, he has skipped breakfast.

“Do you want anything from the bakery?”

“Can you get me a sandwich? I won’t have time to eat properly today.” Kihyun takes a few dollars out of his wallet and places them on the desk for Hoseok to take.

“How do you want your sandwich to be?”

“Doesn’t matter, chose anything you like.”

Impulsively, Hoseok leans on the desk, his face centimetres from Kihyun’s.

“What do you like” He can’t decide if Kihyun is surprised, angry or irritated “in your sandwich?”

“Chicken and cheese, I don’t care about the rest.”

“Nice” Hoseok exclaims and leaves for the bakery down the corner. Kihyun kinda smells like strawberry.

He loves the small bakery, with the little tables and the smiling employees. He takes two chicken sandwiches and a box of cinnamon rolls, they are freshly baked and he couldn’t resist.  
Kihyun stares at him when Hoseok places the box next to his laptop.

“You wanted cinnamon rolls?” Hoseok makes a soft not-human sound, his mouth full.

“Thanks, bon appétite.”

“You speak Eiffel tower?” Kihyun chokes on his coffee and a drop gracefully escapes from his nose.

“I speak w h a t?”

“France. French? French!” Kihyun is adorable when he laughs.

“Yes, I speak French. I had lived in France for a few years.”

“Woooow” Hoseok doesn’t have much of a filter and Kihyun keeps impressing him, really. “I know some French too.”

“You just called the language Eiffel Tower, Hoseok.”

“Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?” Hoseok winks, he knows the phrase from some old song.

“Do you know what that means?”

“No, but it sounds great for picking girls.”

“Do you want to sleep with me tonight?”

“But we have already done that.”

“Hoseok, that’s what it means.”

“Ah…fuck.” Kihyun bites his lip, in a poor attempt to contain his laughter, “I don’t like girls anyway.” Hoseok whispers. Kihyun stops all motions for a millisecond and goes back to work like nothing happened.

Hoseok awkwardly scratches his neck, tells Kihyun to keep the last two cinnamon rolls, one for him and the other for Daniel, his new employer. He reminds him he needs to start eating properly and gets lectured for the amount of ramen he consumes. Hoseok lifts his shirt smirking.

“Do you think this is ramen and snacks?”

“That’s intense workout.” It takes conscious effort for Kihyun to unglue his gaze from Hoseok’s abs.

“And lots of chicken, see you soon, Ki!”

He takes off playfully, closes the door in time to catch Kihyun waving goodbye at him.

**\---**

A couple of days later, hours after the studio closed for the night, Kihyun is going through photos of Hoseok, adding them into separate albums and editing small details. He comes across a photo of himself sleeping, laptop open on his legs; it’s from Boston. Hoseok is the only one who could have taken it. He panics.

_When did this... Did Hoseok take this? How did I miss it when I was going through the photos back then?_

_........Did Hoseok take my camera? No, Yoo Kihyun, you're being paranoid, so what if he did? It was probably an action of impulse... He didn't mean to do anything bad, he wouldn't leave the photo here if he did._

He gets up from his chair and walks to the bathroom, he needs some water on his face and he ends up staring at himself in the mirror.

_You and your fucking trust issues._

_Okay, I don't want to trust anyone and I hate people touching my camera. Would it hurt to trust him this once? Should I tell him to not do it again?_

He presses some buttons to look at the photo again. It’s a pretty one.

_I could thank him for it and ask him not to do it again. But how do I do that?_

_Wait, why do you care about how you're gonna say it, Kihyun? Since when do you allow people touching your camera, after everything that happened?_

_I really am opening up to him. I don't like this._

He thinks how easily time passes with Hoseok, how well they get along.

_Do I... Do I like this? It's been so long since I actually socialized with someone. I miss it.... I don't like that I miss it.... I don't like that I like spending time with Hoseok.... This is scary...._

And he doesn’t notice his eyes tearing up.

_I don't want that much human contact. I don't want to invest into people again. But I miss it... I.... Hoseok seems genuine... But that's what I thought last time, too. Should I try... to open up to him a bit more...?? NO NO NO NO KIHYUN NO._

“Fuck. I'm a mess. This hurts. I don't like it.”

_What hurts? Does being alone hurt? Does being with people hurt?_

_Fuck. Both hurt. Both hurt._

_Lee Minhyuk. What the hell have you done to me? I hate you._

_... I hadn't thought about him in a while...._

_Get a grip, Yoo Kihyun. You can't let Minhyuk destroy you. Not again._

_But I'm scared. I'm scared. I don't want to get hurt again. I'm scared._

Kihyun wakes up the next day with a headache, he hasn’t cried in so long. He opens the studio two hours late, cursing himself for feeling like that and going back to work. He has no idea what to do with Hoseok.

**\---**

Hoseok appears in front of a studio, with a big ass dog and a bigger smile. From Kihyun’s expression, he’s sure he had almost forgotten he agreed to this. Kihyun opens the door and squats to pet the door.

“Do you want to go to the park?”

“Technically I’m working till noon and Daniel can’t come over.” His hands don’t leave the dog’s fur, scratching behind the ears, and the dog is drooling on the doorstep.

“Can we get inside then?”

“I need a break, wait here.” Hoseok watches Kihyun gathering his keys and camera, shutting his laptop and locking up the studio, “Let’s go”.

Hoseok says he wants ice cream as the dog drags them around, being huge.

“You look tired” It’s not only that Kihyun has black circles, he looks…sad.

“Tired is not the right word, drained might be. But I don’t want to talk or think about it.”

“Okay, look at this guy.” Hoseok pats the dog just above the tail “His name is Fluff cause he’s so fluffy and cute. He’s eight months old.”

“He’s amazing” Kihyun walks a few steps behind, taking photos and playing with Fluff’s tail. Hoseok almost tells him that he is the amazing one.

They arrive at the park and Hoseok dives into the grass, Fluff sitting on top of him, gently suffocating him with love. Kihyun sits next to them and takes Fluff’s paw to play with it. He has beautiful brown and white fur. Too much fur. Hoseok gives Kihyun his own hand too and he laughs, putting it on top of the dog’s.

“Two puppies” Kihyun says and Hoseok giggles, the sadness lifting off his eyes.

Kihyun lets go of Hoseok’s hand and takes the leash instead, it’s a short plain black one and Hoseok thinks that Kihyun could as well ride fluff if he wanted.

“Do you think I will be able to hold him if he tries to leave?”

“Pretty sure you won’t, but it will be fun. I’m getting us ice cream.”

“Ugh, I don't have my wallet with me. Just get something for yourself, I didn't want anything anyway.” Kihyun’s trying to walk Fluff, who is on his back, requesting belly rubs and not being much cooperative. At least he isn’t running around.

Hoseok comes back with a strawberry-vanilla ice cream for Kihyun and a chocolate-banana one for himself. He gets scolded for not listening but also Kihyun smiles and thanks him. Licking ice cream and being licked by dogs fix everything. Even more when they happen simultaneously.

Kihyun looks at him. Apparently he said the last part out loud.

“…are you trying to console me?”

“Stop overworking yourself and let’s feed the birds or something.” Hoseok says, lightly rubbing his head on Kihyun’s shoulder. Yes, he is consoling him, even if he’s not sure of what is going on.

“What are you d…never mind.”

Fluff, of course, is trying to both eat and rub on the ice cream, because he’s a malamute and loves the cold, obviously, but Hoseok hadn’t predicted it. They play-fight, rolling on the grass, noticing the faint noise of Kihyun’s camera shutter. Kihyun holds Hoseok’s ice cream out of their reach and tries to give it back when they are lying on their backs, exhausted. Fluff licks a stripe from the cone to the ice cream balls.

“Did you get to eat at all?” Kihyun gives up on the ice cream, promising he’ll buy one for Hoseok some other time.

“Worth it” Hoseok kisses the dog’s cheek and it would be quite disgusting with all the grass and the drool but it’s just cute.

“I don’t doubt it.” Kihyun raises his own cone in front of Hoseok’s face “even though I’ve already eaten half of it, you can have it. Hoseok just takes some bites without taking it from Kihyun’s hand.

It’s a nice day to be out, the weather warm and the sun shining.  
Kihyun is left with only a few bites, when Fluff “attacks” him to eat the rest and Kihyun ends up on the grass.

“YOU OKAY?” Hoseok gets closer to them. Kihyun is not even twice Fluff’s weight. A soft yeah comes as an answer and Hoseok falls on top of them too.

“UGHIMNOTOKAYANYMORE” Kihyun’s muffled-in-the-fur voice comes and Hoseok hugs and manhandles him on the top of the pile.

“SHIN HOSEOK IF YOU BREAK MY CAMERA I’LL KILL YOU” Kihyun shouts, laughing and there’s no venom in his voice this time. Hoseok keeps him in his arms.

“I will not.”

Fluff settles half on Hoseok half between his legs and Kihyun lies next to them, looking at the sky, listening to Hoseok coo at the dog and squeeze his cheeks. Kihyun turns to his side and lifts his camera to his eyes.

“I should have asked you before taking these. We're not working right now. Do you mind? I'll delete them if you do.”

“I don’t mind” Hoseok thought it was all work for Kihyun. Turns out he found one of his soft spots, for dogs. He blows a kiss to the camera and unzips his bag to take a Frisbee out. “Look at what we have here!”

“Do you play with dogs often? How did you find out about the event anyway?”

“I’ve subscribed to the monthly shelter newspaper. It has cute pictures and all the money go directly to the animals.”

“That’s so nice.”

Hoseok throws the Frisbee away. Hoseok has forgotten that he is holding a huge and very strong, full of energy dog. It’s a disaster and he can hear Kihyun laughing while taking photos as Hoseok is running around trying not to fall face-first on the ground. He manages to get back to their spot with minimal bruises. He would do it again.

Kihyun asks if he’s okay and he gives him the finger guns.

“I hope he finds a home soon, he deserves it.” He shows Kihyun that small spot on Fluff’s neck, a healing scar. They told him his previous owners kept him tied with a piece of wire and mistreated him a lot. “…and nobody deserves this.”

“No, no one does.” Kihyun replies, Fluff sensing the atmosphere change and nosing their sides comfortingly.

Hoseok looks at the clouds, fluffy and white, passing by in all shapes and sized. A thought passes from his mind, again.

“Hey Kihyun…?”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any friends?” He says, voice as low as it goes, afraid he will scare Kihyun away.

“No, I don’t” Kihyun simply answers.

“Would you let me be the first?”

“…I don’t know. I want to, but I don’t know.” And Hoseok knows it has nothing to do with their professional relationship.

“Okay, I’m here. I think we could both use a friend.”

“Don’t you have any?” Kihyun seems shocked.

“A few, sometimes.”

"Sometimes? How can you have a friend "sometimes"? ....Sorry, you don't have to answer that, forget I asked.” Kihyun is still turned towards him, but he’s looking elsewhere.

“It's just, they have their lives, much fancier than mine. They don’t have the time for me.”

They settle in a somewhat comfortable silence, anything than opening up more, petting Fluff, and it’s getting late, Kihyun has been missing from the studio for much more than a couple of hours.  
Hoseok closes his eyes, imagines having someone, someone close to him, someone whom he will love and who will love him back, spending lazy mornings together on a big bed with their dog.

“You can sleep if you want, I’ll wake you up.” Kihyun says, from somewhere to his left. Hoseok rolls to his side, asks Kihyun to wake him up in half an hour, Fluff’s warmth comforting on him. Had he stayed conscious a little more, he would have heard Kihyun, taking a photo of him drifting away to sleep and calling him cute.

Hoseok is woken up by Kihyun poking his shoulder and asks for five more minutes. He takes Kihyun’s hand in his own to stop the poking, calling it a “bad hand”.

“Hoseok.” He lets go, slowly opening his eyes and realising his position. He drooled in his sleep.

“Hello, Kihyun.”

“We should go back if you want to sleep more.” He’s strict.

“I’m sorry, let’s be productive.” Fluff has been lying next to him the entire time so Hoseok pecks his nose and asks how he’s doing.

“He’s been extremely quiet” Kihyun says.

“Why are you quiet, son? Go bark at nature!” Fluff actually barks, at Hoseok who stands there scandalised “I AM NOT NATURE”.

“Sorry to break your bubble but you are. We all are. Come on, let's play with him.”

“That’s deep.”

Kihyun gets up first, takes the Frisbee and a ball and Hoseok decides it’ll be safe to take Fluff off of his leash, since there aren’t so many people around. Kihyun pretends to throw the toy once, Fluff running and returning confused and then Hoseok takes the Frisbee to actually throw it. Fluff’s movements are still uncoordinated, being an overexcited puppy and he doesn’t manage to catch a lot of throws, but he’s happy.

“You two look like you've known each other for a long time.” Kihyun steadies himself on a tree, tired from all the running while taking photos.

“I picked him up this morning.”

“Picked him up?”

“From the shelter, to spend the whole day with him”

“Oh. Right. For a second I thought that you found him somewhere and took him to the shelter.”

“Oh no, they told me the police found him”

“The police?” Kihyun’s hands go to Fluff’s head, protectively.

“Yeah, after a report.”

“Poor baby. I really hope he gets adopted soon, he's great. I'd take him if I could, but I don't have enough space for him.”

“Me neither.” And also he doesn’t make enough to feed and properly take care of a dog. “See, he was hurt, but he trusts and loves again and I hope his second chance won't let him down.”

“He's such a brave boy. Seriously, who the fuck hurt him?”

“Rich assholes, it's always them.” Kihyun hums in agreement.

Kihyun must be really out of his schedule and they have to return Fluff to the shelter, so Hoseok tells Kihyun to walk together there, not that far from the studio, or his house. They pet him a lot before a volunteer takes him inside, wishing him good luck and a nice family to be found.

They are about to part ways soon after, going to opposite directions, Hoseok ready to say goodbye but Kihyun talks first.

“…Thanks, Hoseok.” Hoseok looks at him. “Today was great, exactly what I needed to be honest. Thank you for inviting me…and everything else. I’m glad I came.”

“No problem, let’s do it again.”

“We should.”

Hoseok reminds him to stop overworking himself before they each head towards their respective destinations. Hoseok to his house, Kihyun to the studio.

 

 

**~88.684 clicks away~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> The next updates might take a while, we'll do our best to have them ready as soon as possible.  
> As always, feedback is highly appreciated <3


	5. Cairo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, we wanted to finish a big part before posting~

Hoseok enters the studio with maybe more force than necessary for a simple Monday afternoon, when he just wants to chill with his employer. He’s balancing two ice teas in his hands while opening the door with his leg, multitasking at its finest.

“HELLO KIII…” his enthusiasm dies down when he realizes that the guy staring at him is not, by any means, Kihyun.

“Hello? Good evening? Mr. Yoo is in the studio right now, can I help you?” The boy is looking up from the computer and Hoseok smiles back at him, he’s kind of cute.

“You’re not Ki, but do you want some tea?” he extends one of his hands.

“Uhm, thank you, sir, I already have a drink” says the boy while raising his cup “Mr. Yoo will be done in a few minutes, do you want to take a seat?

Hoseok leisurely spreads himself on the couch.

“You new here?” Obviously he is, although Hoseok has a faint memory of him.

“Yes, sir. I'm Im Daniel, I work for Mr. Yoo in the evenings. Are you Mr. Yoo's friend?”

“I am Shin Hoseok, I work with Mr.Yoo.” Kihyunnie.

“Oh, for a project, Mr. Yoo mentioned that, nice to meet you.”

“You seem tired, maybe you need glasses.” Daniel squints his eyes a little when he’s talking.

“Uh... I'm... fine? Thank you.”

Hoseok drinks his tea to the somehow calming clicking of the keyboard until Kihyun comes out of the studio, a family of four in tow. He isn’t phased by Hoseok’s presence in the studio anymore, he waves and tells him to wait a bit, asking Daniel to print out the receipts for the clients. When they leave with their photos, Kihyun lets Daniel have his break and he sits on a chair letting a deep breath out.

“Are you staying for a bit, or do you have to go?” Kihyun asks softly, wiping a strip of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

“I can stay, if you waaaant me to!”

“Sure, come in” Kihyun gets up, going to his office.

“I brought your favorite tea.” Hoseok places it on the desk, at a safe distance from the laptop.

“How do you know it’s my favorite? And why do you keep treating me?”

“Isn’t it?” Hoseok shuts the door behind them and watches Kihyun trying to suppress his smile after the first gulp.

“It is. How did you know?” Hoseok just makes a kissy face and Kihyun raises an eyebrow. Hasn’t Kihyun realized how much attention Hoseok is paying to him?

“I just know. Also why not treat you? I can't come here with my coffee without you having one.”

“Of course you can. But thank you anyway. I appreciate it.”

“Anything interesting lately?” Hoseok asks, bracing himself to hear about work, but Kihyun is smiling a different smile from his usual, reserved ones.

“I played with a dog a couple of days ago.”

“Awwwww doggie! I want to, too.”

“Hoseok. You were there.” Hoseok can see the mental facepalm in Kihyun’s eyes. Daniel is watching them from the office’s door.

“I want to again! DANIEL THE DOG WAS SUCH A GOOD BOY, THE GOODEST BOY.”

“All dogs are.” Daniel agrees and turns to Kihyun “Hyung, I'll be outside for a few minutes, I'll be back in ten, call me if you need anything.” Hoseok dramatically swipes a nonexistent tear and Kihyun gives him a tissue asking if he’s okay, which he seems to doubt.

Hoseok notices the files and papers strategically scattered around on Kihyun’s desk and asks if there really is so much work. Kihyun says that he’s at the point of considering declining jobs because he already has so much to do in so little time, but he’s doing more of what he enjoys and also working with cosplayers was a good decision. It does bring a lot of money but it’s also a good working environment, even with the long hours Kihyun pulls.

“How’s your life going?”

“I…same.”

“You’re only working for me right now?”

“Yeah. Actually I am close to being hired somewhere else, but it won't mess with us and I'm not sure yet.” Right, he forgot to tell Kihyun about that.

“What’s troubling you?” Kihyun’s eyes soften.

“That I’m getting old, mainly.” He knows he’s not old, but he’s…older.

“Is it a modeling job?”

“Oh no, nothing of the sort. It's just that I have no diplomas or anything, just experience here and there. I was thinking about community college too.” Hoseok catches Kihyun’s hand moving, like it’s about to hold his own, but the motion stops and Kihyun lets it fall on his lap.

“I sincerely think that it's never too late to go back to school. If that's what you wanna do, go ahead. Experience counts, but I get it, sometimes it's just not enough. I'd say go for it.”

“Yeah...maybe... won't the kids make fun of me, Ki?”

“I don't think they care enough for that. I didn't when I was a student. But Daniel is a college student, you can ask for his opinion if you want. And well, if they do make fun of someone because that person wants to learn, then they're assholes. I'd cheer for you for not giving up.”

Hoseok, without thinking takes Kihyun’s hand between his own “Thank you, I needed this”.

“No problem” Kihyun says, his soft and steady voice more high pitched.

“I’ll keep you updated if I take the job. It will be Monday to Friday, mornings, I think we can work with that.”

“What kind of job is it anyway?”

“You’ll see.” Hoseok giggles and lets go of Kihyun’s hand.

Kihyun taps a pen on his desk, his fingers on the keyboard arrows, like he’s going back and forth through something.

“Your photos are great. The whole project might take longer than expected considering the workload, but it's going well so far.” Hoseok tries to take a look at the screen, but Kihyun pushes him back down on his seat and says he’ll show him later.

“Have you thought about our next activity?” Hoseok tries and almost regrets it when Kihyun gives him a toothy grin.

“You do have a passport, right?”

“I do?”

“I want you to be available Thursday to Monday, in approximately ten days” Kihyun says, pointing to the days on a wall calendar behind him with his pen.

“…are we going far?” Everything out of the States is too far.

“It's a good thing you have high quality clothes. You're gonna need full cotton ones, bright colors, white etc, and make sure they're long sleeved and that they generally cover a lot or you'll get burnt. Nothing too tight.” Kihyun makes a small pause “we're going to Egypt”.

“WHAT” Hoseok is too close to death again, almost choking on his blueberry flavored tea.

“But I'm gonna need you to bring me your passport tomorrow, I was gonna text you about it.” Kihyun continues nonchalantly.

“BUT THERE ARE SO MANY DEAD PEOPLE THERE, KIHYUN” Images from the Egyptian section of the museum come back to Hoseok’s mind. He had passed through the displays almost running, Kihyun behind him chuckling. He notices Daniel on the door, watching them.

“There are also many alive people there.”

Hoseok bombs Kihyun with questions, where will they go, will they ride camels and will they go into the pyramids? Kihyun maintains his poker face, tells him to wait and see.

“Hyung, it’s 9 o’clock” Daniel timidly says from the door.

“Oh right” Kihyun looks at his clock, “you can go Daniel, goodnight!”

“Goodnight hyung, goodnight Mr. Shin” Daniel leaves after a small bow, he probably picked that up from Kihyun.

“Goodnight Daniel, remember not to strain your eyes!”

Without Daniel, the studio falls silent, Kihyun working on his computer, Hoseok looking out of the small window, sucking what little is left from his tea and there’s something he can’t pinpoint in the atmosphere. If Kihyun didn’t have so much work Hoseok would ask him to go for a walk, or to the movies, or somewhere to eat. But is that really good employee behavior?

“It got late again, I didn’t notice.” Anything to break the silence and the irritating noise of Kihyun’s keyboard.

“Yeah, have you eaten?” Kihyun doesn’t even lift his eyes from the screen.

“I did, didn’t you?” Hoseok eyes him suspiciously. Kihyun is too prone to forgetting his basic needs.

“I ate lunch, I haven’t had any dinner yet. Even though I don't eat much for dinner, I prefer having a good breakfast.” Hoseok doesn’t think coffee qualifies for a good breakfast but okay. He tells him he needs to keep instant noodles around and Kihyun says he does, in fact, have everything around in the studio.

“Hey”

“You want me to leave to finish your work, don’t you.” Hoseok feels kind of alone in his apartment, he doesn’t want to leave just yet.

“No, not really” Kihyun at last lifts his eyes from the screen, to Hoseok. “Do you really want to be my friend?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” They’ve talked about this already.

“I don't know. I don't even know how to be friends with someone anymore.” Kihyun shrugs and Hoseok laughs, scratching the back of his nape.

“I think we are already friends…”

“We are? That’s nice.” Kihyun looks at his fingers, taps and slides them on his desk.

“You are a bit strange, Kihyun” Hoseok has never before encountered such a person, so confusing and yet so clear.

“How so?”

“You have so much love to give, but you won't even give it to yourself.”  
Kihyun is staring intensely and Hoseok half expects to be thrown out, or that the younger man will start crying and he knows he can handle neither.

“I do give it to myself. I just don't let others do it. I don't put my trust in someone easily. Actually, I don't do it at all if I can.” Kihyun says, every word carefully rolling off of his tongue, like he doesn’t want to hurt Hoseok. What a crazy thought.

Hoseok cannot keep himself back from holding Kihyun’s hand, knowing that somehow it is wrong to do so. He plants a soft kiss on top of it and keeps it tucked into his hold.

“You don't, you isolate yourself. I know there are bastards out there, but being loved is worth the shot, once, twice and then again.”

“Hey, I'm not blaming everyone for the one bastard I came across. I know there are good people out there. It's just... hard. For me. To try again. Anyway, we've talked enough about this.” Kihyun retrieves his hand and the small moment is lost. “Do you have anywhere to go tonight?”

“Home”

“Do you have to be there early?”

“No, nobody’s waiting.”

“Wanna watch a movie with me or something? I feel like celebrating my first friend in… two years?” and Hoseok would make fun of Kihyun’s blushing cheeks, if he wasn’t so happy and if Kihyun didn’t look so small and shy.

“Which movie?”

“Dunno, I just thought about it. What do you feel like watching? Oh, I'll order some pizza, do you like pizza?”

“I LOVE PIZZA, and cartoons, wanna watch cartoons?”

“Excellent, I'll order pizza. Cartoons. Let's watch cartoons. No one touches my computer so go to Daniel's and download something while I order our pizzas.”

“Will we sit on the couch or something?”

“The one in the waiting room, we'll turn around the screen and watch there. I'll go lock first, I'll unlock later for you to go home.”

“Kihyun. If you lock where will the pizza guy deliver?”

“I'll unlock when he comes, we'll be here. He'll knock on the door and we'll open. But I don't want people to come in "because we're open" right now. We're closed.” Hoseok nods and goes to turn on the desktop.

Hoseok has already downloaded The Lion King when he hears shuffling from the kitchen, a fridge opening and bottles clacking. Then Kihyun’s voice comes, from a room Hoseok hasn’t been to yet.

“Do you drink beer? I forgot to ask.”

“Oh sorry, I don’t. Water is fine.”

“Coke?”

“That’s good too” Kihyun comes into the waiting room with their drinks “you like beer?”

“Every once in a while. I drunk more in my college days. But I enjoy one or two beers every now and then.” So Kihyun had wild college days in France, interesting.

The delivery guy knocks on the door, Kihyun takes the food and locks them up again, placing the box on the small table in front of the couch. Hoseok is already curled up, the Disney logo displayed on the screen. The cushions dip down from Kihyun’s weight, sitting next to him.

“It's still relatively warm, but it sometimes gets cool at night, let me know if you need a blanket or something.” And that’s the last he hears from Kihyun before they start singing the opening song together, Hoseok no match for Kihyun’s velvety smooth voice, but good enough anyway.

Hoseok muffles his sobs with pizza pieces when Mufasa dies and Kihyun passes him the box of tissues rubbing his back. Sometime later Hoseok is leaning into Kihyun’s touch, the latter’s arm on his shoulder, singing Timon’s diversion song happily.

The movie ends and Hoseok doesn’t dare move a muscle all through the credits and even when the screen goes black, because Kihyun’s head is resting on his shoulder and he’s genuinely smiling, eyes lighting up. Maybe love feels like this. Kihyun gets up and stretches, moves slightly uncoordinated.

“That was nice.”

“It was.” Hoseok agrees. “It’s time to go home.” Kihyun mumbles something “are you sleepy, Kihyunnie?” And there is that light blush again.

“I'm... content. We should do this again. If you'd like.”  
Hoseok finds the blanket Kihyun keeps under some pillows and covers Kihyun who’s lying down again, hands lingering on his shoulders longer than necessary. He stays on eye level.

“I’d love to, goodnight.”  
Kihyun sleepily smiles back at him, even more when Hoseok leans and kisses his forehead before going.

 

The next day Hoseok passes by the studio to leave his passport to Kihyun, who keeps it for some days and then sends a photo of their airplane tickets to Hoseok. He sends a happy selfie back, along with the message “WE ARE REALLY GOING TO EGYPT THAT’S MY NAME OVER THERE!!!” and Kihyun replies with a “WERE YOU DOUBTING IT?” and a furrowed eyebrow selfie. They agree to meet at the studio at 4.10 am on Thursday, to share a taxi to the airport.

 

 

Kihyun can hear the studio’s door opening at exactly 4.07 am, Hoseok a sleepy mess on the doorstep, holding a thermos with homemade coffee like his life depends on it. Kihyun asks for a couple more minutes to get ready, gets Hoseok’s weird sleepy sounds in response. Before doing a last minute check around the studio, he gives Hoseok some cake he made and lets him silently munch on it. Phone, keys, passports, tickets, camera and equipment, all ready, neatly in a suitcase and a backpack.

Kihyun takes the first photo of Hoseok for the day, eyes barely held open. He tries to motivate him to hold on a little more since he can sleep on the airplane, but Hoseok falls asleep the moment his butt touches the taxi’s seat and so Kihyun takes more photos of him until they arrive at the airport.

Hoseok is pouting and rubbing his face all through the security checks, until they are at the waiting lounge, with a generous amount of waiting time to spend. Kihyun takes random photos of him moving around, knowing he won’t be using most of them, but he never underestimates sudden inspiration and good shots. Hoseok, a tiny bit more awake than before, stares straight at the camera, holding his recently purchased and second for the day coffee.

“Just drink your coffee, how can you function it’s like six in the morning.” Kihyun takes a sip holding back his giggles. He does that a lot around Hoseok lately. There is an announcement for their flight, the boarding starting soon and Kihyun gets up first, Hoseok trailing beside him.

“Eh Kihyun…I have the window seat and you have the middle so…uh…would you mind, you know, exchanging?”

“Sure, but why? Don’t you want to look outside?”

“It’s better for you, to take good photos of the view.” Hoseok says with a strained, very strange smile, but Kihyun agrees without further interrogation. He takes the window seat and makes himself comfortable, Hoseok next to him putting his belt on and looking around.

The next time Kihyun looks at him, the airplane accelerating and ready to take off Hoseok is pale, worryingly so.

“Are you okay?” Maybe he feels nauseous? Some people get sick easily in airplanes.

“I have…do you remember, I told you about…my slight phobia….” Hoseok gulps down.

“And you're telling me this now? You knew we'd fly there! Why, there's medicine to help you withstand it, why didn't you...?” Kihyun gapes at him. He had forgotten the statue incident.

“…I forgot about it, the medication”

“How can you just forget about it” Kihyun exhales and then Hoseok is trembling and whispering his name and a tiny “can I hold your hand please?”, so Kihyun takes his hand and interlocks their fingers tightly and squeezes, feeling Hoseok’s heartbeat eventually calming down.

“Whose idea were airplanes even” Hoseok deadpans.

“A lot of people’s actually, but mostly the Wright Brothers’. Why don’t you try sleeping a bit?”

“I’ll try” Hoseok says, lifting the armrest between them and huddling as close as he can. Kihyun takes a book out to read and lets him get comfortable, his breath evening out soon.

Kihyun cannot concentrate on his book for more than a few lines of text, Hoseok a soft, warm weight on him. He lifts his camera and takes a photo of them, only Hoseok’s face visible on his shoulder. Before falling asleep himself, Kihyun knows he’s gonna get drool on his shirt, but somehow, he can’t bring himself to care.

When Kihyun’s eyes flutter open again, Hoseok is wide awake and smiling at him. He looks back, taking in his face, his eyes and his lips, brain not functioning yet to relies he’s staring.

“Have I been asleep for long? How do you feel?” He asks, snapping out of it.

“I’m okay, I kept food for you” Hoseok points at the open food tray in front of him, “I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“Thank you” he takes some of the cookies on the tray “did you sleep well? I didn’t want to wake you up, did I?”

“You are very quiet when you’re sleeping”

“...Is that a bad thing?” Kihyun clears his voice, still hoarse from sleep.

“It’s cute, like a kitten.” Hoseok looks like a giant marshmallow when he sleeps, but Kihyun would never admit it.

“A kitten.” Kihyun agrees, his energy levels not high enough for any other kind of reaction.

Kihyun feels lazy, taking his tablet out of his bag to listen to some music and maybe read the news, tells Hoseok they can even watch something together, but the man already has a book open, he shows Kihyun. It’s a poem collection, the blank spaces of the paper filled with small sketches of nature and damn, Hoseok is good at that.

“Beautiful” he says, a page decorated with vines in green and red pen, tangling around the poem.

“Like you.” Hoseok says and gasps, like he instantly regretted it.

“Thank you.” Kihyun answers, after the initial surprise and a small, polite cough.

Kihyun is opening and closing his tabs, trying to think of anything than Hoseok next to him, who’s talking to himself. “That one is my favorite” he says and Kihyun looks at what Hoseok is pointing, a poem about love, and the sea, and drowning, a doodle of a lighthouse engulfed by waves on the side of the page. Kihyun reads it out loud, tells Hoseok his sketches are great and falls back into his seat. Personal space is a thing and they need to respect it.

Kihyun eats and Hoseok doodles and drinks juice until he falls asleep again. Kihyun takes the book from his hands, careful not to lose the page Hoseok stopped at. He looks at some pages out of curiosity but soon stops, feeling extremely invasive of Hoseok’s personal thoughts. He takes photos of the horizon and the fluffy clouds and the fluffy bird nest that is Hoseok’s hair.

There are landing announcements and a bit of turbulence, Hoseok awake again and muttering something about teleportation under his breath. Without thinking, Kihyun hugs him and kisses his forehead, like Hoseok did a few nights ago before leaving the studio. Hoseok is looking at him with his mouth hanging.

“Sorry, I…I wasn’t thinking.” Kihyun apologizes, Hoseok balling his fists and huddling even closer.

“No, no worries.” He doesn’t move until they land and the plane stops moving altogether.

Hoseok turns back to his usual self when they step on solid ground again and Kihyun tries hard not to judge when he shows off his muscles, helping other passengers lift their luggage from the baggage carousel. Kihyun can’t take his eyes off of him, almost missing his own suitcase. When Hoseok comes back to his side, he takes Kihyun’s hand, to “not get lost”.

Next stop is the hotel, so they find a taxi outside the airport and Hoseok helps the driver put their bags into the trunk, while Kihyun, with a dictionary in hand, marked with sticky notes, tells the driver the address of the hotel.

“So prepared” Hoseok comments sitting beside him.

“I had to, I don't speak the language and not everyone speaks English, much less Korean. We might need it at some point. Plus, it’s polite.”

“Yeah, right.” Hoseok looks out of the window, to the busy streets and shops, both locals and tourists out visiting the market at this time of the day.

“It’s a city…I mean, I know it’s a city, but I expected more sand.” Kihyun snaps his confused expression with his camera.

“Most people do, unfortunately.”

“Have you been here before?”

“No, no I haven't. But I looked up a few stuff so that I could plan this.”

“You’re good at planning, let’s travel together lots then.”

“We will.”

Hoseok makes V signs for the photos but Kihyun stops him. He extends one hand and places it on Hoseok’s chest, slowly pushing him back and then, with two fingers under his chin turns his head so he’s looking outside the open window. He waits a couple of moments for Hoseok’s expression to change according to what he sees and takes the photo.

“Perfect” he says, while Hoseok accidentally breaths in sand and coughs his lungs out. Kihyun giggles and takes more photos, but fate is harsh and he ends up with sand in his mouth too.

“Don’t die on me please” Hoseok pats his back.

“I’m fine” Kihyun defends himself, while not fine.

Thankfully, they can both breathe normally again before arriving at the hotel.

“That’s a fancy one” Hoseok stares at the building in awe. It’s one the biggest hotels in the area, decorated with plants and bright colors.

“They’re kind of cheap here, so we can afford that much.”

“That’s so nice” Hoseok says and leans into Kihyun’s space, but stops moments before his lips touch Kihyun’s cheek.

“For the record, we're brothers here. Same sex affection is not taken well in this country. And since we're staying together because of the project, work is not gonna be a good enough excuse.” He probably had to have said this earlier, knowing Hoseok’s antics.

“Oh...don't friends, like...give affection to each other here?”

“They don't. Well, we won't stay at one place for more than a few hours and we'll be busy, but you know, just to be safe.”

“Okay bro, let's get rollin'” Hoseok takes his own luggage and starts walking to the entrance.

There’s a fair amount of paperwork Kihyun has to take care of, since the booking was made under his name, but the hotel’s personnel speaking English makes the whole process much easier. They give their passports and the man looking at them behind the counter looks at their faces more than necessary, it stresses Kihyun out.

When he has their key in hand, Hoseok takes his suitcase too and walks towards the elevator.

“What are you doing?” Kihyun whispers, pressing the right button.

“You are holding the key, I am helping, I am the elder brother, a good hyung.”

“We're on the 6th floor, you won't have a problem with that, right?”

“Are you gonna throw me out of the window?” Hoseok smiles.

“Not if you don’t anger me enough” Kihyun smirks, but suddenly Hoseok’s cocky expression changes and he’s looking at the carpet, stuttering.

“I…I won’t”

“I’m kidding” Kihyun pokes him and they walk the rest of the way to the room in silence. There’s no point in asking Hoseok if he’s okay, because obviously he is not. Kihyun has learnt to read him by now.

He closes the door behind them and places his suitcase in front of one bed. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have joked about that. It's not funny. And I'd never react like that if I were angry. Just in case you needed to hear that.” He takes a couple of things from his suitcase, “I'll go to the bathroom first”.

Kihyun has a quick shower, wears loose clothes and throws a towel around his shoulders, braces himself for the awkwardness lingering in the main room. Hoseok is sitting on a bed, looking out of the window and Kihyun sits next to him, making sure to leave enough space between them, to not make him uncomfortable.

“I'm sorry, I overreacted. I know you would treat me...right” Hoseok says, out of the blue.

“You don't really know that. You've never seen me angry. You only have my word for it.”

“I trust your word” Hoseok lifts his eyes and looks at him, his gaze piercing. Kihyun doesn’t know how Hoseok can trust him before seeing every part of him. Or what he has been through to react like this.

“Even if I don’t” he continues, “nothing will change Kihyun”.

“What do you mean?”

“If you want to mistreat me, you will, trusted or not. I just take the chances that you won't.”  
Kihyun brushes the hair out of Hoseok’s eyes, so close to kissing his face again.

“You are so vulnerable. And so brave.” Kihyun would never trust someone like that, never again.

Hoseok takes a deep breath, at the verge of tears. Kihyun pulls him in his arms and hugs him tightly, caresses his hair softly and lets him sob until he lets everything out. Kihyun knows so little about him. Hoseok kisses his shoulder and gets up, goes to the bathroom.

When Hoseok is back, his eyes are red and his hair wet and he smells like the hotel’s shampoo.

“When are we leaving?”

“Tomorrow morning, aren’t you tired?” Kihyun is still on Hoseok’s bed. He wants to hug him again.

“I slept a lot.”

“Well, we still have a couple of hours till the hotel's restaurant opens up. We'll be eating elsewhere the following days and this hotel has a traditional kitchen despite its looks, so I thought we could try a few things here. We'll only be here for a bit more than three days, so we'd better make the best out of it.”

“Let’s try some things here tonight then!” Hoseok smiles and Kihyun’s world lights up again.

Hoseok sits on the spare bed and turns on the television, watches something he doesn’t understand. Kihyun takes photos of him, so domestic in his loose shorts, old shirt and glasses, hair tousled.

“There is so much war going on here, Ki.” Kihyun sits next to him.

“There is. War never stops.”

Hoseok lies on his side, stares and when Kihyun catches him he blushes, but doesn’t look away. Kihyun takes the TV remote and turns it off, watching Hoseok as he gets the message and gets up to change clothes. He gets ready for dinner too.

“Shall I escort you to dinner, sir?” Hoseok asks, in a fake deep voice, completes the image with a bow.

“I’d be my honor”. It takes less than ten minutes for Kihyun to regret letting Hoseok on the loose, as he watches him enter the dining room sideways, like a pharaoh or something, moving his hands to a beat only he can hear. Kihyun takes some photos and makes mental notes of what he wants from the buffet. Hoseok finds a table with a nice view of the hotel’s garden and Kihyun has an idea.

He runs outside, has to make a whole circle around the hotel, but spots Hoseok at last and taps the window next to him, camera ready. Hoseok pretends not to see him and Kihyun can see the smirk forming on his lips.

“Look at the tallest tree next to you, there are beautiful birds on its branches” He texts.

“I’m not falling for that!” Hoseok texts back.

"I ALREADY TOOK PHOTOS OF YOU, YOU'LL MISS THE BIRDS" He tries again.  
The moment Hoseok looks out wind blows and the birds fly away, the camera capturing their shadows reflecting on the window, Hoseok’s smile behind it. Kihyun takes a few moment to look at the photos he took and goes back inside to serve himself.

It’s all going well, until Hoseok decides to try something traditional and probably filled with pepper, which results to his ears going completely red and eyes wider than Kihyun has ever seen them. Kihyun laughs and Hoseok drinks from both water glasses on the table.

Kihyun takes pity on him and brings some milk. Hoseok downs it and ends up with an adorable milk moustache. He tries to hide his face from Kihyun’s flash, like a kid and Kihyun’s mind can only repeat the word “beautiful”, over and over. Hoseok cleans himself with a napkin and they resume eating, picking stuff from each other’s plates. If Hoseok wants a fork war, he shall have it. Kihyun’s hand gets trapped under his hand and he kind of wishes they could touch like this more.

“You’re staring” Hoseok says, with that adorable teeth showing half smile of his.

“Sorry” Kihyun says and he doesn’t mean it.

“You’re free to” Hoseok whispers.

“I know, it’s my job” Kihyun tries to play it cool and Hoseok falls back on his chair laughing. Kihyun doesn’t dare look at him again, afraid that he won't be able to stop staring this time.

_It IS because of my job, right? I mean, okay, he's breathtakingly beautiful, but that's a given, he's a model, and not the first beautiful person I met. But why do I want to keep looking at him forever? FOREVER? WHAT THE FUCK YOO KIHYUN? ....fuck. No, no. You're just overwhelmed. He's your first friend in so long. It's normal to feel like this. It's normal, right? Yes, it should be.  
HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW IF IT'S NORMAL, I HAVE NO OTHER FRIENDS! FUCK._

Kihyun excuses himself and goes to the nearest bathroom, to throw some water on his face, because he doesn’t like what is happening. He needs to get a grip of himself. He takes some more photos of Hoseok from afar before sitting down again. In the little time he was away, Hoseok has managed to pile up all the buffet’s sweets in two small plates, currently placed in the middle of the table. He feeds Kihyun something with too much honey.

Kihyun takes some more ice cream, deciding it can be a spoil-himself day and Hoseok pats his belly, sipping a soda.

“This was good” Hoseok burps discreetly.

“It sure was.”

“I’m sleepy now.”

“Me too, I’m tired” Kihyun yawns “let’s go, we have a big day tomorrow”.

Hoseok barely walks to the room, face-planting on his bed like a starfish and moving just enough for all his limps to be on the mattress.

“Don’t you want to change clothes first?” Kihyun says, taking his own off and slipping into something more comfortable. Hoseok just kicks his pants off.

“It’s too hot” he whines and Kihyun turns on the air-condition for him, hoping nobody will get sick.

Kihyun brushes his teeth and gets into bed, to go through the day’s pics. Hoseok visits the bathroom too and then crawls next to him.

“I decided to keep you company, is that okay?” Was his back always so smooth and muscular? Kihyun almost stops breathing at the sight.

“Yeah, it is.”

“Are you happy with your photos?”

“I am.”

“Are you happy?” Kihyun doesn’t take his eyes off of the camera screen, but neither is looking at it. Hoseok softly brushes the shell of his ear with his nose.

“I hope you are.”

Kihyun has a very very vivid image of him straddling Hoseok and kissing the life out of him in his mind and is so shocked with himself he can’t reply.

“Will you wake me up tomorrow?” Kihyun nods, his throat dry, he needs some water. And Hoseok out of his bed. Thankfully, he leaves on his own, “rest well, don’t stay long”.

Kihyun stays frozen, not daring to look at Hoseok. He puts his camera aside and shuts the lights trying to sleep, but his mind goes: _Oh shit. Shit. Fuck. Shit. Oh shit. Fuck fuck fuck. I like him. Fuck. Shit. Fuck._

Hoseok snores and mumbles in his sleep and Kihyun finds him so cute.

“What the fuck, Yoo Kihyun” he says.

“Yeah, what the fuck…” Hoseok mumbles in his sleep.

 

**~87.961 clicks away~**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, more updates coming soon!


	6. Giza

Hoseok wakes up by something poking his arm, he hugs it.

“No poke” he says, convincingly.

“Hoseok.” Kihyun’s hand wiggles to escape his hold.

“Are we riding camels today?” Hoseok opens one eye, Kihyun standing above him, looking a bit pissed.

“We are, come on.” It’s enough for Hoseok to jolt up, straight to his suitcase to select one of his fine shirts for the day. Kihyun smiles tiredly at him and Hoseok hopes he didn’t stay up the whole night editing photos.

He chooses white pants and a very light, almost transparent blue shirt, while Kihyun is in total white.

“You seem like you could use some coffee” and Hoseok could use one too.

“I could.” Kihyun is still completely out of it, so Hoseok goes down to the buffet and brings coffee for both and some cookies, Kihyun gratefully taking his share.

“We should buy keffiyehs, since we have a lot of walking to do under the sun. I wanna try a white one.” Kihyun says while Hoseok puts his badass sunglasses on.

“Whatever, I’m already hot” he tries not to think of the temperature outside. Even hotter than him. “So do we have a map?” He doubts his phone’s GPS will work, since he has only American maps.

“You know that you always read the upside down, right?” He likes sleepy Kihyun more that the functioning one.

“It’s because I’m extremely clever!” He defends himself, poorly.

“Really? And why are you hiding it?”

“So where are we going?” Hoseok pouts.

“Giza, make sure to have everything securely on you, they steal a lot in that area.” He should have Kihyun tucked securely under his arm too if that’s the case then, but he doesn’t voice it, just says he’ll keep his bag on his chest.

“They also grab a lot of women around those parts. From the pyramids. Every country has its demerits.” Kihyun spins the room keys around his finger, waiting by the door.

“You mean...okay.” Hoseok doesn’t want to think about…that.

“Dark topic, huh? Sorry about that. Let's go.”

Kihyun gives Hoseok a map, but they just step out of the hotel and walk a bit.  
“We’re supposed to wait here, they’ll pick us up in a bit.” The sun isn’t even up yet, but the chilly night is slowly being replaced with the creeping heat of the day.

A minivan arrives soon and they get inside, Hoseok seated beside a couple from Europe on their honeymoon. They ask if he and Kihyun are traveling together and Kihyun lowers his camera to answer that they are brothers. Then he requests Hoseok’s attention, showing him the pyramids that can already be seen, as they exit the center of the city.

“So they exist” Hoseok says, because they are so much more intimidating than he thought, even more in the low light.

“What do you mean “so they exist”?”

“They…I…you know…it’s kind of shocking.” Hoseok points to their general direction, trying to make a point.

“They are huge, aren’t they?”

“People actually built that…”

“People built that thousand years ago.” Kihyun agrees.

“Slaves.”

“Actually that’s a common misconception. They weren’t slaves; they were free workers, in fact privileged ones. Since building a pyramid was no easy job, in order to make it more appealing they kept their workers well fed, they could even have meat on a daily basis, and gave them access to proper medical treatment.”

“Oh, okay.” Hoseok says.

There is mostly sand all around them and little else, with the exception of the pyramids scattered around and the city littering the horizon. There are camels waiting for them, quietly standing or munching grass from large bowls. Hoseok asks the guide, who is about to explain the route they’ll take, if he can pet the camel, Kihyun telling him to be a little patient in vain. He walks to the camels and extents his hand carefully for them to smell it, like they are dogs.

By the time the guide has finished, Hoseok is being licked by two camels and has a third one rubbing on him. Kihyun is taking photos of him and he smiles, kissing one of the animals on the nose.  The guides tell them it’s time to ride the camels and Hoseok helps the small kids around him first, gaining precious time against the scary task. Camels are really tall.

Kihyun, near him, is comforting another child that is crying, scared he will fall and his mother being scared herself doesn’t really help. Hoseok grips his camel’s saddle and pulls himself up, succeeding in the second try. Kihyun captures all of it in frames and then a guide helps him on his own saddle.

Hoseok leans and hugs his camel’s neck. That’s because he loves it so much, and not because he’s too high from the ground on a strange moving animal. Gotta play it cool in front of the little kids. And Kihyun, mainly Kihyun. They are besties with the camel now.

They make a stop to watch the sunset and at least the sand doesn’t hurt when he stumbles down trying to get off his camel. He sits next to it, feeling Kihyun with his camera a few meters behind them. Hoseok turns back to him and pats the place on the sand next to him, asking Kihyun to join him. Kihyun shakes his head.  
“Do you your job and look at that” he points at the sun poking out of the sand mountains “and let me do mine.” Hoseok looks at the sunrise and plays with the sand.

“Ignore me” Kihyun whispers in his ear when the sun is fairly up on the sky and kneels behind Hoseok, taking photos of his hands playing with the sand before it flies away with the wind.

“Did I ignore you enough?” Hoseok turns around.

“No, keep doing it” Kihyun smiles and takes a sudden photo of him from up close, the first rays of the day gentle on their skin.

“I want some more photos of you with the camel now.” Hoseok gets up and straddles the animal again, trying to keep upright, for the sake of the photos.

Kihyun probably thinks Hoseok is too far to hear him talking to himself, in Korean.

“This isn’t the time for your heart to go crazy, Yoo Kihyun.” He says and Hoseok doesn’t know what to make of it. He is happy we are traveling. His heart is going crazy because we are at a place he wanted to visit for so long, that seems right. That’s what Hoseok convinces himself. But then Kihyun comes near him with his camel and says a “great view” and although the pyramids are right behind them his eyes don’t leave Hoseok.

“Yeah, it is” Hoseok looks back.

They are walking in circles around some of the pyramids, the guide answering some questions.

“For how long have you wanted to come here?”

“It wasn't a trip destination I had absolutely set my eyes upon. It's beautiful and undeniably interesting, though. I don't regret picking this country among others for my project. I think I'll remember this for the rest of my life.”

“I hope you do.” Frankly, Hoseok never thought of traveling, not that far anyway, but he’s glad he’s given the chance. He’s surely gonna remember that, and Kihyun too, when their project ends. Maybe he’ll still be welcome in the studio for a coffee.

He tells Kihyun how beautiful it is, far from everything he has seen, living in America or Korea, it’s a completely different scenery, culture and atmosphere.

“That is the point of the project you know.” Kihyun remarks, somehow riding with no hands, handling his camera and talking, all at the same time.

“Do you have more surprises for me, Yoo Kihyun? More beautiful sceneries to see?”

“You'll have to wait and see.”

“I'm having such a great time that I could hardly name it waiting.”

Kihyun says that their next activity may be one which Hoseok won’t enjoy as much. Admits he thought of bungee jumping before realizing how bad his acrophobia is. But still, he wants to try new things that Hoseok is not familiar or completely comfortable with. Their contract prevents Kihyun from torturing him, not that he intended to, but he also thought about making Hoseok enter a “how much spicy food can you eat” competition and Hoseok is not sure if Kihyun is kidding or not.

“The whole new experiences thing sounds fun, I’ve always wanted to go to a nudist beach.”

“I’ll think about that” He expected Kihyun to get mad, not smirk. Character development. His camel decides to hang out with its camel friends while walking, so Hoseok ends up making small talk with others from the group. They seem pretty surprised that he speaks English fluently and he has to explain that he lives in America, not some eastern country.

“Kihyun, do you believe in curses?” he asks when the younger is in reach again.

“No, I don’t.”

“But it has something undeniably realistic to it.” Hoseok has read too many conspiracy theories. Maybe he should just ask Kihyun when he wants to learn stuff instead.

“Are you talking about the pyramids?”

“Yeah…”

“Good.” Kihyun smiles and hums a tone playing innocent. He knows how to rile Hoseok up.

“…creepy”

“Me or the pyramids?”

“Both.”

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you.” Worst case, he’ll sacrifice Kihyun to the angry gods and run for his life.

They make their second stop in front of a pyramid and Hoseok is equal parts excited and scared. He actually asks the guide if there’s a chance he’ll get cursed and the man laughs. Hoseok hugs his camel until Kihyun goes next to him.

“Hey, breathe.” Kihyun is laughing too, unbelievable.

“Only she” he pats the camel which is indeed a female, because Hoseok looked, we don’t misgender camels in this fic, “Only she loves me.”

“You won’t get cursed” Kihyun, serious again, takes his hand and Hoseok feels blessed.

“I know.” He just gets excessively dramatic sometimes. “Everything is settled in a way that it makes you feel like you will, though. The inside of the pyramid is built in a way that makes it almost impossible for you to find the actual tomb inside, or get out if you do. As long as we all stay close to the guides we're safe. We won't even go that far in.” Kihyun continues. “I’ll be close to you if you need anything.”

“Even if we get stuck in there we’ll be together. The pharaohs were buried with pots of honey near them, it hasn’t expired. We’ll survive enough for Indiana Jones to save us!”

“Indiana Jones is like those curses.” Kihyun replies “He doesn't exist.” Hoseok gasps and makes pointy fingers at him.

The guide asks them to gather around and take their entrance tickets. Hoseok lets the others go down first as a safety measure. If there are crocodiles they’ll get full and won’t eat him. Then it’s his turn. Hoseok grabs the railing of the narrow staircase and as instructed climbs down facing the entrance, his back at the darkness of the pyramid. He keeps his eyes on Kihyun’s butt who’s after him the whole time.

There’s not much inside the pyramid, mostly bare rooms since the very few items that were not stolen have been transferred to museums. Except for the walls, filled with colorful scenes, faded over time. Hoseok says the first thing that comes to mind.

“Wow…ancient emoticons…”

“Ehm…” Kihyun looks at him scandalized “nothing, never mind” he sighs, continuing his work. Hoseok supposes lighting in those spaces is tricky for taking good photos and the flash is not allowed.

They enter a slightly bigger space, with mummified animals, mainly cats. Hoseok moves closer to Kihyun subconsciously.

“They looked nice, I have to admit, flashy”

“They're creepy.” Kihyun takes photos nonetheless.

“They wanted company to the afterword, fair.”

“That's a pretty romantic thought” Kihyun thinking of something as romantic? A first. Hoseok might need to take a photo of the moment.

“They probably irritated each other and preferred the cats, so not really.” Just like millennials, history keeps repeating itself.

An intrusive thought strikes Hoseok’s mind and suddenly he feels insecure. He walks next to Kihyun and pokes his arm for attention.

“Yes?” Kihyun still has his back turned to him.

“Am I irritating?” Must be the second time he asks, but making sure is good.

“What? No, what makes you say that?”

“Just asking” Kihyun furrows his eyebrows in confusion and Hoseok walks away.

After they exit the pyramid, there is a little more camel riding to their final destination where the guides will drop them off, the old market. Hoseok tells his camel how much he’ll miss her and Kihyun offers to take a photo for his personal use. Hoseok asks to take a photo of Kihyun too and one of them together and Kihyun slowly gives him the camera, lets Hoseok snap a couple photos and says they can take some together later.

“I like them.” Kihyun says looking at the photos Hoseok took of him.

_I like you._

“Great! Let's check the market”

_Fuck off voice in my head._

He has to say goodbye to his big fluffy baby, but the market is worth it, filled with various traditional products in very low prices, edible and not.

The first item that catches Hoseok’s eye is an oriental skirt and top. Much to Kihyun’s amusement he decides to try them on above his clothes and dance to the beat of some song on the radio. He’s convinced his abs were made for this, cause soon there’s a small crowd. The shop owner isn’t that amused, but they bargain for bath bombs and tea and take some at a very good price.

Hoseok buys a little sphynx statue and Kihyun a pyramid and the keffiyet he wanted. They end up at a small kebab restaurant, trying to feed each other fries. It’s gonna be late till they arrive at the restaurant and anyway, all the shops around have really good prices, when converted to dollars at least.

They go back to the market to see some more shops, brightly decorated, items on every surface. Kihyun is looking at some kind of lamps hanging from the ceiling, so beautiful, just like him.

_I could ask Hyungwon his opinion, maybe._

Kihyun decides that the lamps are too fragile to be carried around, so he promises to be back and get one before their flight home, in hopes of keeping it safe inside many layers of clothing. Red or purple would suit Kihyun’s office, Hoseok tries to imagine it as the only source of light at night, in the little space. Maybe himself and Kihyun curled on the couch, together.

They decide to go back to the hotel by taxi and rest for a few hours, Kihyun looking too tired to keep walking. He ends up falling asleep into the cab and Hoseok has to guide him out and to their room, in front of where he asks twice for the keys, Kihyun rubbing his eyes. He’s probably like this from all the sun. He tells Kihyun he only needs a half an hour nap and has a shower before falling on his bed like a rock. Hoseok plays on his phone, but is mostly staring at Kihyun’s sleeping form. He shuts the half hour alarm and lets him sleep more.

_He's nice, he seems cold-hearten but he's not, he's nice, he won't hurt me. He could hurt me but he won't, because he is nice and he enjoys working together and I enjoy working together and we are friends now and we need to keep being friends because we can't be anything else. Besides, I don't know how to be anything else for him, or anyone._

Hoseok knows Kihyun won’t like sleeping for too long, so he messes his hair to wake him up, tells him they can walk around a bit, have a snack and call it a day. They don’t have so much time, since it gets really cold later in the night. Kihyun dresses in total black and Hoseok in a loose white shirt and jean shorts. And kind of heavy shoes because scorpions exist in Egypt.

“White looks good on you.” Kihyun takes a photo before Hoseok has any time to react.

“I actually thought of bleaching my hair.”

“It'd probably make you look younger. And maybe cuter?” Kihyun takes a good look at him.

“Can I go any cuter?” Hoseok giggles to hide his embarrassment.

“I don't know where that confidence came from but I like it.”“Come on, let's go, make use of the last natural light of the day.” Suddenly Hoseok knows about natural light and stuff, the aftermath of too much time with Kihyun.

“I don't think I could live in such a place.”

“Why?”

“Slow paced life, I don't know, I kind of enjoy sucking up capitalism in full mode. They still trade milk for eggs here.”

“Come on, it's Cairo, it's not that bad. But they have other problems. I wouldn't want to live here either.”

“I can’t hold your hand in public, that’s a problem.” When did holding hands become usual for them?

“You can, but I’d suggest against it. Is there something you want to see?” They are walking at the hotel’s gardens and out of it, to the neighborhood’s center, there’s a fountain, tall, exotic looking trees and benches all around.

“The moon and stars, I can rarely see them from home.” Although the brightest one is right beside him. Kihyun stops for a bit and nods in agreement.

“Pick a spot” Kihyun opens his arms to the gardens.

_Your arms, hug me._

Hoseok walks around until he finds a nice spot near a local night market. Kihyun sits next to him, asks him not to move and then he lies on Hoseok. Kihyun’s head is on his lap and he’s taking a photo of Hoseok’s upper body with the clear night sky.

“Sorry about that” Kihyun says.

“No…it was alright” Hoseok stays frozen for half a minute, he can still feel Kihyun’s body on him.

“The night lights are pretty here too, they are warmer.” Kihyun is looking through his lens and Hoseok hears the camera’s shutter. He can probably distinguish it from every other model in the world.

“Everything is warmer here, Kihyun” he manages to say.

“I wasn’t referring to the temperature” Kihyun turns and looks at Hoseok “but then again, a tourist sees things differently from an actual citizen.” Hoseok only sees Kihyun and warm light and stars.

_I wonder if a kiss would hurt right now, just a peck._

“And a photographer sees this differently than most, too. You are both right now.”

“Everyone can see the things I see if they try. If they care enough about them.”

“What do you see?” Hoseok wants to be in Kihyun’s mind, only for a moment.

“I tell you most of the things I see lately, what makes you think there’s more?”

“I heard you talking to yourself today” Hoseok switches in Korean, Kihyun stops moving and Hoseok places a hand on his chest, above his heart. “I hope you are okay” he pushes a bit “does it still ache?”

“Less than before.” Kihyun answers in Korean too, in a low voice, like he’s making himself small, less vulnerable while he’s opening up to Hoseok. “What about yours?”

“My heart? My heart is intact.” Hoseok touches his chest with his hand. Kihyun doesn’t seem to believe him. “It's locked in and I never gave away the key. It was the right thing to do. But you know, maybe it's time, soon.” Hoseok knows damn well Kihyun knows what he’s implying.

"The right thing...?”

“It was, past tense. One must protect themselves.” There’s no need to do that anymore.

“From whom?”

“Would you kiss me, without any feelings involved?”

“I can, but I wouldn't.” Kihyun is so calm, so small next to him.

“From the people that would.”

“How do you know who those people are?”

“They don't just kiss you. They do so much more, when you are full of hopes and then leave you when they are done, on the same night. And it happens again and again.” It’s the first time he says something about this, after years.

“What if you can't see that they leave you when they're done, every time? What if you only notice when it's too late?”

“I was awake, every time.” And he remembers, every time.

“…in my case, he stayed. He stayed physically. But he was never really there. It wasn't me that he wanted. And I hadn't realized. But you...”

“People are funny like that. I wonder how they sleep every night.”

“I doubt they have trouble sleeping unfortunately.”

Hoseok leans on Kihyun’s shoulder and takes his hand, looking at the sky.

“You are not supposed to do that here, remember?” Kihyun says, but instead of pushing Hoseok away he plays with his fingers, switching back to English again.  
Hoseok takes a deep breath, he mustn’t cry.

“Up for snacks?” Snacks make things better.

“Sure” Kihyun doesn’t move and Hoseok kisses the side of his head. Kihyun gets up and pulls him to stand.

They walk back to the hotel, sneak into the night buffet to take something and go eat in their room. It’s a nice night and Hoseok feels the tiniest bit lighter, he hopes Kihyun feels like that too. Whatever it is between them, it is still fragile, he needs to be careful not to break it.

“I am happy. Are you happy?” he asks Kihyun before they enter their room, his eyes meeting a smile.

“I'm... not sure. I haven't felt anything as strong as happiness in a long time. But even if I'm not yet, I will be, eventually. So it's fine. I can work with "not sure" or "not yet" for a bit more.”

 

**~87.352 clicks away~**


	7. Tell el-Amarna

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> Here we are, with the last part of our trip to Egypt, enjoy~

Kihyun wakes up and stares at the ceiling for a couple of minutes, taking in what happened the previous night. Hoseok is curled up on his own bed, still sleeping and it’s still very early. He uses the extra time to go to the bathroom and groom himself. His dark circles are still terrible, but at least less visible than before.

It’s time to wake Hoseok up, so he sits on his bed and the man makes weird noises and comes closer to Kihyun.

“Hey” Kihyun pets his hair, until the mumbling stops.

“Morning” Hoseok manages to open one eye, hugging his pillow, cheeks red and puffy.

“Good morning, you need to get ready.”

“We’re taking the airplane?”

“Tomorrow. Amarna and road trip to the Nile today.” Kihyun plays with Hoseok’s hair, it’s soft.

“Crocodiles?”

“None, I promise. Now get up.” Hoseok’s such a child sometimes.

Kihyun has finished getting dressed, when he notices Hoseok standing at the bathroom door, silently asking for his attention. He turns to him and tries to not laugh, Hoseok’s face freshly shaved, mostly. He has left a short mustache and some stubble on his chin, a goatee to be.

“I think of growing this” he says.

“Yeah. Cool.” Kihyun stares at the literally ten hairs.

“Thanks for the approval, it’ll look cooler in a week or so.” Hoseok piles clothes on his bed in an attempt to find what he wants to wear.

“Yeah, you should let it grow.” A different look for the photos, why not. Hoseok, in the middle of buttoning up his shirt comes next to Kihyun and rubs his chin on his cheeks.

“It’s fun” Kihyun agrees because frankly, it is. Feels kind of weird on his skin and he needs to keep all the weird thoughts off. Of how other parts of Hoseok would feel on other parts of his skin.

They decide to rent a car for the day, the process much easier and less time consuming than in America. The ride to Amarna is estimated to four hours, even more with the stops and Kihyun buys them some sandwiches and Hoseok takes juice. He plays around with the straw seated on the passenger’s seat, Kihyun the first to drive, after Hoseok told him to.

“I'm too nice to you, you should be doing most things while I walk behind you and take photos”

“I'm sleepy and scared. I'll drive the way back.” Hoseok wiggles in his seat, comfy and happy and warm with his juice.

“Scared?” He gets that feeling a lot, he could never guess judging from Hoseok’s muscular appearance.

“Crocodiles.” Oh yes, that explains everything.

“Hoseok, we know the places where there are crocodiles, we won't approach them. We'll only get off at places where people are around and they are keeping the crocodiles away.”

“Will we get in a boat?” Hoseok probably thinks the crocodiles will bite and sink the boat. And then eat them.

“We'll see, I don't know if we can. I hope so” Kihyun has found some boat tours, but most are already booked by large groups.

“It'll be nice...if motion sickness doesn't kick in.” Hoseok rubs his chin, deep in thought.

“You get sick? But you're fine with cars and buses.”

“I've never been on a boat before, I don't know.”

“Never on a boat before? Then we're definitely trying it at some point.” Maybe they could go on a small cruise to Japan.

“I wanna do jet skiing, it seems cool.”

“I might arrange something like that, culture isn't only about the past, you have to try today's activities, too.” Kihyun can already imagine all the bills for the project and noodles being his main nutrition intake from now on. But the project is going so well.

“There are a ton of things I would like to try. Guess you're right about the activities thing.”

“Make a list. I doubt I can help you do everything, but I can try.”

Asking Hoseok to make a list of things he wants to do apparently was simultaneously a good and a bad idea, because he has so many he wants to try, from water sports to trekking and museums and amusement parks, all around Korea and other parts of the world. It’s like Kihyun opened Hoseok’s traveling horizons just a bit, but enough to make him curious of everything else the world has to offer.

“We have time to do everything.” Kihyun cuts Hoseok’s ideas short, because his list is already too long.

“We do. Well I'd like it if the project didn't take two years or something, but technically we do.”

“We can do it out of the project.” Hoseok looks out of the window, voice low. Kihyun has thought of it too.

“Maybe after it's over, we can. I doubt I'll have time before that.” He’d want to, if everything goes according to plan.

“How will you know it's over?” Hoseok turns to him again.

“I'll be satisfied with my collection and I'll want to show it.” Kihyun is sure he’ll know the exact moment. “There’s so much to do though, I got anxious.”

“Don’t be, it’s so nice here. Be anxious back in America.”

“Right.” Hoseok has a strange calming effect on him anyway.

Hoseok keeps babbling, about some cars designed for the desert and how much he wants to try “Mario carting” in them. Kihyun has checked and he couldn’t fit it in their schedule, but he doesn’t tell Hoseok. Their day is already filled with places to see and Hoseok will forget about it. They put on an Egyptian pop station, strangely catchy and Hoseok shamelessly sings to a song he doesn’t know, putting all of his heart and soul in the performance, obviously accompanied by his very Egyptian moves.

“I’m very good at this.” Hoseok declares proudly after his solo.

“At what? Singing?”

“At everything.” Hoseok winks and Kihyun catches a glimpse of it on the car’s mirror.

“I'm pretty sure I'm better at taking photos.”

“I'll give you this, because I like you.”

“I'm also better at singing.”

“Are you?” Hoseok turns to him, his voice taunting, but Kihyun won’t start singing right there.

“I am. And I'm pretty sure I beat you at cooking, too.”

“Let's try. Wanna go for karaoke?”

“Sure. The loser pays.” That doesn’t sound very work-related, but Kihyun tries not to think too hard about it. His professional relationship with Hoseok is crumbling anyway.

“In what?“

“One meal?”

“Deal.” Hoseok taps his fingers on the window, pleased.

They stop at a small town surrounded by sand hills to walk around and take photos. Hoseok gets out of the passenger’s door and stretches, then walks behind Kihyun and suddenly hugs him from behind.

“I know just what you need” he says, Kihyun not having enough time to process as Hoseok picks him up and somehow makes everything crack. Kihyun wants to be kind of mad at him for doing it without asking, but it felt so good, so all he manages to say is “wow, thanks”, Hoseok still pressing on his back.

Kihyun takes the sandwiches they bought out of their bag, better eat them before they go bad from the heat. Hoseok places his head on Kihyun’s shoulder and opens his mouth wide, making an “AAHH” sound. Kihyun gives him a sandwich and Hoseok walks away munching on it and looking around the area.

“It would be so fun if they kept writing in emoticons” Hoseok says, pointing at an advertising banter with hieroglyphics and Kihyun sighs, a hundred and twenty percent done by now.

Hoseok runs to the sand and lies down, taking a “draw me like one of your French girls” pose, Kihyun surprised rushing closer to take some good photos of him. It doesn’t last long, Hoseok getting up, burned by the sand.

“It’s hot like me!” Hoseok starts, dusting sand off of his butt “joking, I almost got burnt to death”.

Kihyun laughs and his whole body bends forwards, leaving the camera to hang around his neck, hands clapping along with his noise-less laugh.

“So cute.”

“What?” Kihyun tries, and fails, to stop and looks up at Hoseok who’s next to him again.

“I think...I think I've never seen you laugh like this, with something small.”

“I think so too” Kihyun smiles, calming down, “we should go soon” They have many places to see and a lot of time to spend driving in practically the desert.

Hoseok walks back to the car first and Kihyun’s mind suddenly gives birth to a, probably bad, idea. He takes a handful of sand and pulling Hoseok’s shirt from the back he throws the sand inside. Hoseok stops, turns around and faces him. It’s probably not burning hot, but uncomfortable at least. And then Hoseok realizes what has happened.

“WHY YOO KIHYUN, WHYYYYYYYYYYY” He wiggles trying to discard of as much sand as he can, but it’s already in his pants. Kihyun starts laughing again.

“Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t resist. Are you okay?”

“I’ll be salty. At you. For forty five minutes minimum.” Hoseok glares at him and Kihyun snaps a photo of it.

“That’s a first in the…two months I’ve known you?”

“You earned it Yoo Kihyun.” He looks like a kid who got cheated on Uno.

“Hahaha Okay, okay. Do you still have sand inside your shirt?”

“I have sand on my dick.” Hoseok deadpans.

“Oh. Sorry. How did it even get there?” Hoseok blinks processing the question.

“I'm having my bath first tonight.”

“Yeah... Sorry about that. You know, there should be a toilet around here, it's dry sand so you can take it off easily if you want.” Hoseok makes a dismissive motion with his hand.

“It's okay, for now. Let's go, where do we go?” He takes the map from inside the car and looks at it. Correct country, wrong region. Okay, the usual Hoseok is back.

“So” Kihyun starts, starting the engine of the car, Hoseok’s eyes on him “history lesson time”.  
Hoseok leans back and relaxes, Kihyun driving slowly and explaining what he has read in books and the internet even before deciding on traveling to Egypt.

“Next stop is Tel-el-Amarna, where the ancient city of Akhetaten lies. Pharaoh Akhenaten built that city from scratch, it was virgin land. He followed a different religion and built that city as his base in the empire to worship his God, Aten.” Hoseok nods, makes enough sounds for Kihyun to know he’s listening to him.

“Akhenaten was Tutankhamun's father. I'm sure you've heard of him. The city he built was abandoned when Akhenaten died and so was his new religion. Tutankhamun moved the capital back to Thebes and returned to worshiping their previous Gods, with God Amun being the supreme one once again.” Too many names? Hoseok seems confused.

“Also, one of Akhenaten's wives, Nefertity, is a great mystery. She was known to be an extremely beautiful woman, but at some point she just vanished from all historical records. We know nothing about her. No death, no disappearance, nothing. There are, of course, theories regarding this, one of them being Nefertity succeeding the throne from her husband for a short period of time under a different name.”

Hoseok takes the guide book from Kihyun’s backpack and goes through the pages, loudly reading the same part of the story and trying to remember the names. He’s not good at it, but Kihyun more than everything appreciates the effort. He tells Kihyun that he really like ruins and he’s disappointed there’s nothing like this close to their home. They agree to go to Machu Picchu sometime if they have the chance. Then find El Dorando and become very rich to buy a whole gym for Hoseok and a Gallery for Kihyun. It sounds great, so Kihyun agrees.

Kihyun rolls his window down and lets the wind mess up his hair, then ruffles it cradling fingers through it.

“The wind is really something, huh? I didn’t expect it.”

“There are no actual mountains, so yeah”

“It’s hot.” Kihyun puts his hand back inside the car, feeling the incoming one sided tan already.

“You’re hotter.” Hoseok slams a hand on his mouth “…k-kidding.” Kihyun stares at him for a couple of seconds.

“Hotter than the sand?” Kihyun’s self-confidence skyrockets, but he would never admit to Hoseok how much he’s enjoying this.

“…yeah.”

“Thank you. Don't worry, I'm not taking this the wrong way, since it's obviously making you feel uneasy. I'm just glad that you're comfortable enough to talk to me like that.” Good job, Yoo Kihyun, you are very professional.

“Yeah, thank you. I mean. You are. It's natural. To admire.”

“Likewise, by the way. In case you were curious. I think the same about you.” It’s just that probably Hoseok is admired by way more people than Kihyun is. There’s not much to admire in an almost workaholic skinny grumpy pile, when compared to the literal Greek god and sun that is Shin Hoseok.

“Nice. That's nice. I'm a model, so that's natural as well, I guess.”

Kihyun stays silent and keeps driving, praying to every existing god he didn’t make things more awkward. They won’t talk about it again for a while.

The road signs indicate that they are getting closer to Amarna and there is a parking in front of the main archeological space, so Kihyun parks there. There are only ruins left from the old town, at the banks of Nile. Kihyun takes care of their tickets and has his handy guide ready.

“Do they have hyekendje emoticons there too?” Hoseok looks at the seemingly empty walls of what’s left of the buildings.

“You mean…hieroglyphics?”

“YES!”

“They do.” Most of the scenes preserved are kept at the site’s archeological museum.

“Oh, so nice. I wanna learn to read them.”

“You're gonna need to study that for years. Like a lot of years. I don't think everything is even decrypted yet.” At least Hoseok doesn’t call them emoticons anymore. Kihyun tells him that he’ll need decades to decipher something himself, which doesn’t really dishearten Hoseok. He tells Kihyun he can be his photographer at the press interview when he deciphers something and then they can travel some more.

“There are not many people here huh?” Hoseok asks and surely, compared to other attractions the site is almost empty, few tourists walking ahead of them.

“It is, but not for those who come here for a few days like us, so it's quieter. Only people that have a lot of time around or are here on road trips visit usually. There'll be more people tomorrow at Karnak.”

“So Nile is around here?”

“It’s really close, yes” Kihyun shows Hoseok where they are on the map. The Nile is just behind the ruins.

“Let’s go see everything then!” Hoseok walks faster, following the signs and reading the tabs with information scattered around the area. Kihyun takes his camera out and stays a few steps back, watching him.

Hoseok completely ignores his presence and starts doing his own translation of hieroglyphs every time they encounter some, like he’s telling the news or the weather. Kihyun takes out his phone and videotapes some parts; he can’t lose such good material.

“Here, for example, we can see a casual scene from rural parts of Egypt“ Hoseok stands in front of the remnants of the walls. He extends his hand and shows every character and detail of the scenes, thinking up the story behind them. “so this bird lady is gathering those strange bamboo but not exactly things to go feed her small bird children. And this man? Oh, this big man who is carried by smaller men…”

“That’s the pharaoh…” Kihyun butts in because he’s afraid his eyes won’t survive the eye-rolls.

“He’s obviously Gulliver! You thought it started from Europe but here we have scientific evidence that it didn’t!” At least Kihyun can never get bored around him.

It gets worse when they enter the small museum, filled with the colorful parts of the walls. “I’m great at this” Hoseok beams and puffs his chest, before he spots the next scene, one with Anubis in what seems, to Kihyun, like a burial process. “They had Halloween masks too, as we can see, dog themed were their favorite! Strange, I thought Egyptians were cat people.”

At the end of their route through the ruins Hoseok stands next to his favorite hieroglyphics and asks Kihyun to take photos of him. “Please include the explanations if you use them in your exhibition” he says and Kihyun promises to do so, completely dead inside.

They buy some water and Kihyun might or might not have caught Hoseok staring at the droplets of water sliding down his neck. They walk back to the car and he makes Hoseok drive, says they can change only if he gets tired. They follow the road next to Nile, to find the parts accessible to tourists. There are more shops and restaurants, the air slightly cooler now that they are near the river.

“Hey, Kihyun…” Hoseok parks the car and looks to the other side of the road, where many people have gathered around someone, or something. Kihyun can’t quite see.

“What is it?”

“A crocodile feeding show…” He seems more curious than scared and Kihyun doesn’t want to miss it.

“I know I promised no crocodiles, but wanna go?” Hoseok nods weakly. He didn’t need that much persuasion.

“Wow…so cute.” Hoseok exhales. The two crocodiles of the show are young ones, barely a meter each, because as the trainer explains the older ones are very dangerous.

“Huh?” Kihyun turns to him, taking the camera off of his eyes. He got some good shots of the crocodiles.

“Look at them. Small and slightly scary baby lizards.”

“Have you ever seen how much their mouths can open?” The trainer feeds the two small crocodiles large pieces of meat and Hoseok’s eyes go wide. “It's not that much if you think about it, they just have long mouths and it seems like that, but it's scary isn't it? They're so fast, too.”

“Kihyun. Are you doing this on purpose?” Kihyun grins.

“Maybe. Oh look it opened its mouth 90 degrees!” Kihyun hopes Hoseok’s legs won’t give up on him, because there’s no chance he can carry him back to the car.

The trainer asks if someone wants to touch the crocodiles, in broken English. He promises that it’s completely safe. Kihyun hears Hoseok taking a deep breath and then watches him taking a step. He gapes at him and the trainer comments on his bravery, while Hoseok is noticeably shaking.

The trainer tells Hoseok something and then gives the crocodiles more food, while Hoseok moves next to them and lowers his body slowly. Kihyun encouragingly smiles at him and takes photos of his every movement, feeling his heart beating fast.

Hoseok gets on one knee and the crocodile opens its mouth slowly, the trainer telling Hoseok to proceed. Hoseok kisses the tip of the crocodile’s mouth and slowly gets up on shaky legs while the other tourists cheer. Kihyun for some reason feels emotional, taking some last photos until Hoseok comes back to him and hugs his arm. Kihyun pets his hair.

“Their eyes are really scary.” Hoseok doesn’t let go of Kihyun’s arm.

“More than their mouths?”

“More.” Hoseok confirms.

“Oh b-“ Kihyun coughs. _WHAT THE HELL DID I ALMOST JUST SAY?_ “You’re really brave. Really brave” he says sincerely.

The show goes on and someone comes closer to ask Hoseok about the experience, saying he wants to try but he’s scared. Before leaving he takes a good look at Kihyun, asks if they are boyfriends. Hoseok tells him they are brothers, Kihyun doesn’t confirm it. He just looks at Hoseok and takes one more photo.

They go around the shops at the riverside, bargain for more traditional products and Hoseok buys a small boat statue, he likes these a lot and Kihyun is suddenly curious to see where he puts all the souvenirs. He loses his professionalism for a bit, spends more time looking at Hoseok than taking photos, until they are at the kid’s section of a larger tourist shop and Hoseok is standing in front of him holding a hamster plushie.

“What is this?” Kihyun takes it frowning.

“It’s…it looks like you, so I thought…eh…” Hoseok stumbles on his words.

“Like me? It kinda does, yeah” although Kihyun would prefer something more manly and intimidating, like a shark. “Uh, I wanna buy it now.”

“I’m not letting you!” Hoseok takes it back from Kihyun’s hands.

“What?” Kihyun looks at him.

“It’s mine” Hoseok answers and Kihyun laughs.

“But you said it looks like me.”

“I know.”

“Okay, you can have it.”

Kihyun doesn’t put up a fight about it, instead he looks around in the shop and some minutes later he is in front of Hoseok again, holding a pink bunny plushie which he boldly names “Hoseok” and refuses to let the actual Hoseok touch it. Hoseok laughs, clear and open mouthed and the photos Kihyun takes instantly become his favorite ones. He doesn’t know if he prefers staring at them or the real thing. They both end up buying the respective stuffed animals before they go back to the car.

Kihyun, mostly out of habit enters from the driver’s side but Hoseok pushes him to the passenger’s with his butt. Kihyun tries rally hard not to slap it. It’s a nice butt.

_Come on, you have more important problems, Kihyun. This isn't the time to get horny over your crush._

“I felt like driving a bit” He doesn’t know what to do with his hands, that doesn’t involve folding butts.

“You’re tired, enjoy the scenery Kihyunnie.”

“Thank you.” Kihyun places his elbow on the window frame and supports his head on his palm looking outside. Hoseok tells him to sleep if he wants to, but he’s not so tired. He has questions.

“How come you touched the crocodile? You were really scared.”

“I thought... I thought it would make a good photograph, it would make you happy.”

“You did it for that?” Hoseok simply nods.

“YOU IDIOT, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU IF I WANTED YOU TO DO IT.”

“Anything for you.” Hoseok gulps.

“We should revise the contract, medical expenses are out.” No more wild animals in the schedule.

“Put medical expenses back, Kihyun, I wouldn't fall down for you. Or hurt myself in any other way.”

_But what if I fall for you?_

“Don't do anything dangerous again unless you want to.”

“Okay. I will do only the dangerous things I want to.”

_Please be careful._

“That’s right.” Kihyun ends the conversation and lets Hoseok drive quietly, going back to the more populated parts of the country.

They stop for lunch at a small town, an oasis in the middle of the desert and Hoseok, willingly, tries traditional spicy foods and Kihyun gives him from his own water afterwards. They hold themselves back from buying more souvenirs and visit two more museums on the rest of the way back, one on Egyptian agriculture through the ages and the other on modern art. Much to Hoseok’s disappointment neither has hieroglyphics.

Kihyun forgets that he wanted to drive and dozes off until Hoseok pulls up at the car rental place, shakes Kihyun to full consciousness and they pay for the car. It has gotten dark but they take a walk around the town, Kihyun enjoying the cool breeze, taking photos of Hoseok next to statues and signs written in Egyptian.

At last, they take some snacks from the hotel’s dinner buffet and go to their room. Hoseok reminds Kihyun he has bathroom priorities, but lets him use the toilet first. Kihyun takes the opportunity for a very quick shower, to let Hoseok have all the time he wants afterwards. He gets out in just boxers and his hair still wet and falls on his bed, not exhausted enough to sleep, but too tired to do anything else than lying down and maybe watching TV.

He decides to save all of today’s photos in his laptop and he has already been working for some time when there’s a high pitched scream from the bathroom.

“HOSEOK?” He rushes to the door, but doesn’t open. Hoseok opens it for him, only in…some bubbles.

“THIS IS FANTASTIC, KIHYUN.”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHY DID YOU SCR…” Kihyun’s eyes travel downcast and he notices stuff and suddenly his throat is too dry.

“I MIXED SOAP IN THE BATH BOMB WATER AND NOW WE HAVE ONE AND A HALF METER OF LEMON BUBBLES COME IN!”

“Lemon bubbles…” After the first shock is hone Kihyun can only stare in disbelief.

“YEAH”

“You're an actual five-year-old. Maybe a ten-year-old, at most.” And very naked.

“Just stop talking and come be 10 years old with me.” Kihyun just looks at him with furrowed eyebrows and Hoseok pouts. “Okay then. No lemon bubbles for you.” He gets back into the bathroom, leaving the door open. Kihyun can’t help looking, it really smells like lemon.

“Do you want to get your boxers wet?” Hoseok asks, back in the bathtub surrounded by an unbelievable amount of bubbles.

“What? I took a shower, I just changed them.”

“Whatever, I guess you have more.” Hoseok says and in one soft motion he pulls Kihyun in the bathtub, on top of him. Kihyun groans and tries to steady himself with his hands at the sides of the bathtub, his face centimeters away from Hoseok’s. “Hello there”

“Hi…” Kihyun unconsciously brings his hands on top of Hoseok’s shoulders.

“Comfy?” Kihyun is sitting on Hoseok. On a part of Hoseok he shouldn’t be sitting on. He tries moving away.

“I’d apologize but you’re the one that made me fall.” Fuck, he feels himself blushing.

“Aw, the other side is all yours, honey.”

“Honey?” Hoseok grins throwing bubbles at him. Kihyun blows them back.

“I’m glad we met.” Hoseok smiles.

“I’m glad too.” He really is.

“You’re lovely.” Hoseok is not taking his eyes off of him.

“Wha-“ Kihyun giggles, a bit embarrassed. “Why are you saying this all of sudden?”

“Felt like it.”

Kihyun’s boxers are wet and uncomfortable, so he kicks them off and throws them out at the bathroom’s floor. Hoseok makes him a bubble beard and a hat.

“You’re a wizard now” he says, kneeling between Kihyun’s legs and cupping his face. Kihyun feels him leaning in in some kind of trance and they are looking into each other’s eyes, but at the last moment Hoseok pulls away, falls to the other side breathing heavily.

Kihyun stares at him and takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and falls back into the water, taking a couple of seconds to calm himself down before coming back up. Hoseok wanted to kiss him. The worst part? Kihyun wanted to be kissed too, so bad.

“Hey, Hoseok?”

“Yes?”

“You said we are friends, right?” Are they?

“Yes.”

“You should really shave completely.”

“You don’t like it?” He doesn’t but he’s not that heartless.

“It makes you look older. You don’t need it.” Kihyun throws some water on himself and gets out of the bathtub, picking his boxers up from the floor.

“Older and wiser.”

“I'll go lie down. Let me know if you need anything, okay? Don't stay too long.”

“Okay.” Hoseok follows his naked form, getting out of the room.

Kihyun is not sure how long Hoseok stayed into the bathtub, since he fell asleep before Hoseok got out, but he dreams of bubble hats and beards.

 

The next morning, Hoseok wakes up first, Kihyun asleep on his stomach, still covered in the same way Hoseok left him the previous night. It’s still very early but he figures the breakfast has started being served, so he puts a shirt and some sweatpants on and gets some food for both himself and Kihyun. He leaves some food on the nightstand next to Kihyun’s bed and looks at his sleeping form, thinking about what he almost did in the bathtub. He takes a pack of cigarettes from his backpack and gets out, to the small balcony.

He smokes in silence for some minutes, until he can hear Kihyun slowly waking up and walking around the room.

“Good morning” Kihyun says from somewhere behind him “I didn’t know you smoked.”

“I found them at a good price, could be considered a traditional product. It helps me clear my thoughts.” Hoseok turns to face Kihyun, dressed in sweatpants only, his face still puffy from sleep.

“Can I have one?” Hoseok pulls one out of the pack and gives it to Kihyun along with the small lighter he has placed at the table in front of them.

“It’s our last day here.” He’s not sure he’ll miss the place or just traveling with Kihyun.

“Yeah, we fly back tomorrow morning.”

“Did you miss home?” Hoseok does, a bit. He misses some of his usual daily routines, like working out.

“It’s okay” Kihyun shrugs “I guess I don’t really care about where I am as long as I can do what I want.”

“Photography?”

“Right now, yes.”

“Now? Will this change?”

“I have a goal, that’s all. My priorities might change after it is fulfilled.” Hoseok is curious, but he knows better than to ask. He’ll have to wait and see.  

“What’s today’s schedule?” Kihyun’s eyes light up at the question.

“We fly to Karnak and back. We'll spend most of the day there. But we'll do things differently today. I want to try something else.”

“Meaning?”

“We won't talk. We won't even be close. From the moment that plane lands, you're out there to explore whatever you like. I'll be watching you the entire time. I won't take my eyes off of you.”

“Fun” Exploring should be fun, even without Kihyun.

“I’ll go get ready” Kihyun says, putting out his cigarette and getting back inside.

Hoseok gets dressed as well, goes for total white and his black sunglasses. When they are about to leave for the airport Kihyun gives him a keffiyeh, tells him that he bought two since they’re gonna be under the sun for many hours. Hoseok thanks him and lets Kihyun help him wear it.

He doesn’t forget his pills before the short flight and they help him relax, he’s not nearly as touchy or scared he was the previous time. Kihyun is not much talkative, so Hoseok asks for his tour guide and reads about Karnak until they land. From there and on, Kihyun becomes his shadow, following him some meters behind and they don’t interact at all.

Hoseok starts by taking a map of the area from a touristic spot and dedicates some time to decide on a route to follow. As predicted there are many tourists around the huge area of the preserved town. There are huge statues everywhere, mostly pharaohs and also a lot of hieroglyphics.

Hoseok talks with the guides scattered around the area, with other tourists, asks them to take photos of him and then he does the same for them. He makes himself happy by discovering small routes that are not on the map and getting more traditional sweets instead of lunch.

The area of Karnak is an open air museum, so the keffiyeh comes handy and Hoseok finds out that it’s way more efficient against sunlight compared to a normal hat. He spends the whole day walking, almost forgetting about Kihyun and then it’s time to go back to the airport. He takes the bus from the archeological site and it’s only a short distance to the airport, so he has an hour to spare before their flight.

He buys a book with the local history and hieroglyphs and also two coffees and sits waiting for Kihyun. With a quick glance he finds him, taking a picture of Hoseok reading his book. He changes the page and does his best to act natural. Kihyun sits next to him quietly.

“Thank you” Kihyun takes the coffee and happily sips. Hoseok knows how he likes it.

“That was relaxing. I’m learning to read the twenty most common hieroglyphs and I saw many new ones.” Hoseok shows the page he’s on, with some scene from ancient Egypt.

“Were there any Halloween masks this time?”

“They are pretty close actually, both are local celebrations of death in a way.” Kihyun seems surprised at that. Hoseok did his reading too.

“Did you have fun?” Kihyun folds his ticket in his hands.

“Yeah, I saw many things. Did you?”

“I did, in a way. I kinda missed talking to you. But I'm glad we worked like that today.” Hoseok enjoyed it too, but he’d rather they work together again from now on.

“Did you see things you wanted?”

“I did.” But Hoseok knows Kihyun’s eyes were on him the entire time. He likes the idea.

They board the plane and Hoseok sleeps the whole way back. His legs hurt a lot from all the walking and he’s tired, so when he wakes up back at Cairo he’s clingy with Kihyun again, to make up for all the time they didn’t spend together during the day. Kihyun doesn’t seem to care much, holding Hoseok’s hands while they enter the hotel’s lounge, and he pays for the stay, since they’ll be leaving early in the morning. They get some weird looks, but Hoseok is too happy to pay attention to them.

The moment Kihyun unlocks the room, Hoseok jumps on his bed and sprawls like a starfish.

“My legs are noodles” he wiggles them a bit, lifelessly.

“I can massage them if you want” Kihyun closes the door and leaves his camera on a table.

“No, you must be tired too.” Hoseok looks back at him.

“I’m fine. Unless you don’t want me to.”

Hoseok eventually agrees and Kihyun, after washing his hands, climbs on the bed next to him and starts massaging his legs. Kihyun’s hands are soft, but his motions powerful and it still hurts a lot, until Hoseok relaxes and starts melting under the gentle pressure. Kihyun tells him he can have a shower in the morning since he’s too tired and Hoseok gets up and without thinking kisses his nose.

“You’re so clingy. You did well today. You do well every day. You should rest” Kihyun smiles.

“Rest with me” Hoseok takes his hand and holds him back from leaving the bed.

“You mean here? Now? I want to pack our stuff…”

“Pack it tomorrow. It’s literally two shirts.” Hoseok whines and Kihyun indulges, after changing clothes and setting an alarm. He comes back to Hoseok’s bed and they lie there together, centimeters away but still not touching each other. Just before Hoseok falls asleep, Kihyun takes the hair out of his eyes and smiles a “goodnight” to him.

Hoseok wakes up too close to Kihyun. It takes so much of his willpower not to kiss him, looking so peaceful and happy, puffing out small breaths. Hoseok caresses his cheek instead, to softly wake him up. Kihyun moves a bit before waking up, and when he does he’s a little grumpy and not much in the mood to do anything than groom himself, but Hoseok finds him cute anyway.

Hoseok checks that he has his tranquilizers in his bag; they’ll come handy before the flight. They get dressed and Kihyun brings breakfast from downstairs and some cookies to have with them on the trip. Hoseok finishes packing up first, throwing everything in his suitcase and sits on a chair, watching Kihyun and nervously moving his legs up and down. One part of him is stressed about the long flight and the other about that thing he’s developing. A crush.

Kihyun asks him if he’s alright and has taken care of his medicine before they go and Hoseok answers that he is great. The previous night’s sleep was very refreshing. Except that it triggered more feels in Hoseok, but instead of telling that to Kihyun he carries their entire luggage outside and loads it into one of the taxis waiting outside the hotel. Kihyun gives back the key and thanks the hotel staff before he gets into the taxi too.

They pass the first security checks at the airport straight after they arrive and have enough time to browse the stores, Kihyun particularly interested in perfumes this time. Hoseok places his head on Kihyun’s shoulder and looks at the small bottles he’s trying. They cost six times the one he owns. Hoseok tells Kihyun he likes his natural Kihyun-and-laundry-soap smell more. Not that he smells Kihyun on the regular. Kihyun sprays a tester on his neck and asks Hoseok his opinion. Hoseok finds out that Kihyun is tickly there, nosing at the spot. Kihyun decides on the one he wants to buy and he gets a thumbs-up from Hoseok.

Then Kihyun moves to the books section and Hoseok is looking at gadgets and all that fancy stuff. He always wanted a drone even if he doesn’t have any use for it. There’s a kid running around and Hoseok plays peek-a-boo with her until her mum fetches her.

“Adorable.” Kihyun appears behind him.

“Me?” Hoseok puffs his cheeks.

“The kid, of course.”

“She is, yes. Do you want kids?”

“I haven’t thought about it. Maybe, someday.” Kihyun looks at the toddler now playing with something else on the toys section.

They have to board, so Hoseok takes his pills, makes puppy eyes to Kihyun like he’ll manage to make them stay a day or two more, but Kihyun takes him by the hand to their gate.

“The magic will be lost once we get back.” Hoseok says, taking the window seat.

“It won’t.” Kihyun says. “Oh, you’re brave.” Kihyun says, about Hoseok’s seat choice.

“You’ll be next to me. And awake.”

“How do you know? I might fall asleep.”

“Then Ki will wake you up.” Hoseok takes the hamster plushie out of his bag and makes it walk on Kihyun’s tray. Kihyun makes the bunny plushie join it.

The plane takes off and Hoseok tries to ignore the pressure on his eardrums, yawning and closing his nose.

“My stomach feels strange, like there are butterflies.”

“Keep your eyes at one point only.”

Hoseok stares at Kihyun and it actually helps with the plane related problems, but not the butterfly ones. Hoseok tries reading a bit but soon falls asleep, wakes up many times. Some Kihyun is asleep too, some food is served and the last ones Kihyun is working on his photos from the cosplay groups and lets him take a look. He remembers he had a dream about flying with Kihyun.

“Do you like swans?” They are Hoseok’s favorite.

“…I think so.”

“And hawks?”

“Yes?”

“Eagles?”

“Why are you asking me these?”

“Why not? Just curious.”

“I do. Is that like what’s-my-favorite-dinosaur thing?”

“No, I’m bored.” Hoseok says and stretches, ending up mostly on Kihyun’s lap.

They’ll arrive at dawn and Kihyun will have to work right away. Thankfully Daniel will be there the whole day, so he denies Hoseok’s offer of helping him around. Kihyun tells him that he can visit for an afternoon coffee instead and asks Hoseok if he wants to watch something together.

Hoseok only wants to watch Kihyun sleep at the moment, afraid the other will have no energy to work the next day. Kihyun insists he rested well the previous night, when they slept together, and it takes everything out of Hoseok not to blush when he tells Kihyun that they should do it again. Then Hoseok covers them both (and their plushies) with a fleece blanket the airplane staff has provided and they sleep together until they arrive.

Everything is in English again and they buy more coffees to wake themselves up sufficiently while waiting for their luggage at the airport. Too many airports at one trip.

“Time to go back to real life” Hoseok exhales, stirring his coffee with his straw.

“That was real life too, you know.”

“Felt like a fantasy.”

“Nope. It was real. Let's go.” Kihyun picks his suitcase from the rack.

 

“No fun, Kihyunnie.” Hoseok takes his own.

“You're an idiot, do you know that?” Kihyun whispers.

“Must be right, if you say so” Hoseok knows he’s being childish, but he can’t help it.

“It's fine, you know. It was beautiful, but it can be beautiful here, too. Plus, we'll leave again. It's not the place that makes the memories. It's the people in them. Ugh, when did I

get so sappy. If you ever tell anyone I said that I won't forgive you.”

“To whom for example? Daniel?”

“For now, yeah. I might make more friends in the future, you never know.” That was a little sad.

“If you neither tell my friends I sleep with stuffed animals.” Does Kihyun qualify as one, too? He’s equally cute.

“Deal.” Kihyun smirks and finds them a taxi to go back to the studio.

Before they part ways, Kihyun stares at Hoseok, intensely. It looks almost like he’s making puppy eyes unconsciously.

“What is it?” Hoseok asks, Kihyun unlocking the studio’s door.

“Can you…uh…do that stretching thing?”  
Hoseok laughs, waits until Kihyun closes the door behind them and pulls him on his chest. He tightens his hold, lifts and everything cracks. Kihyun makes a pleased sound.

“So…” Hoseok says.

“So.” Kihyun replies.

“I shall be going, see you later.”

“Take care.” Kihyun waves and Hoseok somehow feels like the magic is not yet lost.

 

**~86.337 clicks away~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of important  
> -Although we did our best to include accurate trivia, the scenes described by Hoseok are made up~  
> -It'll probably take a while until the next update, so thank you for your patience in advance <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Come talk to us on twitter at [@mkhhhx](https://twitter.com/mkhhhx) and [@chaerinsthighs](https://twitter.com/chaerinsthighs) ~(^ω^)/


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